THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


REICHERT  COLLECTION 

PRESENTED  BY 

SIDNEY  M.  EHRMAN 

JACK  GOMPERTZ 

BERTHOLD  GUGGENHIME 

EDWARD  H.  HELLER 

I.  W.  HELLMAN 

LESSING  J.  ROSENWALD 

RABBI  IRVING  F.  REICHERT 


ORIENTAL   RELIGIONS 

AND 

CHRISTIANITY 


ORIENTAL   RELIGIONS 

AND 

CHRISTIANITY 


COURSE  OF  LECTURES  DELIVERED  ON  THE  ELY  FOUNDATION 

BEFORE  THE  STUDENTS  OF  UNION  THEOLOGICAL 

SEMINARY,  NEW  YORK,  I891 


BY 


FRANK  F.  ELLINWOOD,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

SECRBTARY  OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS  OF  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

U.  S.  A.;    LECTURER   ON   COMPARATIVE    RELIGION    IN   THE    UNIVERSITY 

OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


FOURTH  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
191 1 


Copyright,  1892,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S   SONS 


GIFT 


jQjLA^e/ju^ 


PREFACE 

The  following  lectures,  prepared  amid  many  cares 
and  duties,  have  aimed  to  deal  only  with  practical 
questions  which  are  demanding  attention  in  our 
time.  They  do  not  claim  to  constitute  a  treatise 
with  close  connections  and  a  logical  order.  Each 
presents  a  distinct  topic,  or  a  particular  phase  of 
the  present  conflict  of  Christian  truth  with  the  er- 
rors of  the  non- Christian  religions.  This  indepen- 
dent treatment  must  constitute  my  apology  for  an 
occasional  repetition  of  important  facts  or  opinions 
which  have  a  common  bearing  on  different  discus- 
sions. No  claim  is  made  to  scholarship  in  the 
Oriental  languages.  The  ability  to  compare  origi- 
nal sources  and  determine  dates  and  intricate  mean- 
ings of  terms,  or  settle  points  in  dispute  by  a  wide 
research  in  Sanscrit  or  Pali  literatures,  can  only  be 
obtained  by  those  who  spend  years  in  study  along 
these  special  lines.  But  so  many  specialists  have 
now  made  known  the  results  of  their  prolonged  lin- 
guistic studies  in  the  form  of  approved  English 
translations,  that,  as  Professor  Max  Miiller  has  well 
said  in  his  introduction  to  "The  Sacred  Books  of 

ivi608902 


Ti  PEE  FACE 

the  East,"  "  there  is  no  longer  any  excuse  for  ignor- 
ance of  the  rich  treasures  of  Oriental  Literature." 

Two  considerations  lend  special  importance  to  the 
topics  here  discussed.  First,  that  the  false  systems 
in  question  belong  not  merely  to  the  past,  but  to  our 
own  time.  And  second,  that  the  increased  inter- 
communication of  this  age  brings  us  into  closer  con- 
tact with  them.  They  are  no  longer  afar  off  and 
unheard  of,  nor  are  they  any  longer  lying  in  passive 
slumber.  Having  received  quickening  influences 
from  our  Western  civilization,  and  various  degrees 
of  sympathy  from  certain  types  of  Western  thought, 
they  have  become  aggressive  and  are  at  our  doors. 

On  controverted  points  I  have  made  frequent  quo- 
tations, for  the  reason  that  the  testimonies  or 
opinions  of  writers  of  acknowledged  competency  are 
best  given  in  their  own  words. 

I  have  labored  under  a  profound  conviction  that, 
whatever  may  be  the  merit  and  success  of  these 
modest  efforts,  the  general  class  of  subjects  treated 
is  destined  to  receive  increased  attention  in  the  near 
future ;  that  the  Christian  Church  will  not  long  be 
content  to  miscalculate  the  great  conquest  which  she 
is  attempting  against  the  heathen  systems  of  the 
East  and  their  many  alliances  with  the  infidelity  of 
the  West.  And  I  am  cheered  with  a  belief  that,  in 
proportion  to  the  intelligent  discrimination  which 


PREFACE  VII 

shall  be  exercised  in  judging  of  the  non-Christian 
religions,  and  the  skill  which  shall  be  shown  in  pre- 
senting the  immensely  superior  truths  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  will  the  success  of  the  great  work  of 
Missions  be  increased. 

It  scarcely  needs  to  be  said  that  I  have  not  even 
attempted  to  give  anything  like  a  complete  view  of 
the  various  systems  of  which  I  have  spoken.  Only 
a  few  salient  points  have  been  touched  upon,  as 
some  practical  end  has  required.  But  if  the  mere 
outline  here  given  shall  lead  any  to  a  fuller  investi- 
gation of  the  subjects  discussed,  I  shall  be  content. 
I  am  satisfied  that  the  more  thoroughly  the  Gospel 
of  Eedemption  is  compared  with  the  futile  systems 
of  self-righteousness  which  man  has  devised,  the 
more  wonderful  it  will  appear. 

F.  F.  ELLINWOOD. 
Nbw  Yokk,  January  20,  1893. 


THE  EL  T  LECTUMES--1%^1. 

The  lectures  contained  in  this  volume  were  deliv- 
ered to  the  students  of  Union  Theological  Seminary 
in  the  year  1891,  as  one  of  the  courses  established  in 
the  Seminary  by  Mr.  Zebulon  Stiles  Ely,  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms : 

**  The  undersigned  gives  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  to 
the  Union  Theological  Seminary  of  the  city  of  New  York,  to 
found  a  lectureship  in  the  same,  the  title  of  which  shall  be 
*  The  ^lias  P.  Ely  Lectures  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity.* 

**  The  course  of  lectures  given  on  this  foundation  is  to  com- 
prise any  topics  that  serve  to  establish  the  proposition  that 
Christianity  is  a  religion  from  God,  or  that  it  is  the  perfect 
and  final  form  of  religion  for  man. 

**  Among  the  subjects  discussed  may  be  : 

**  The  Nature  and  Need  of  a  Eevelation  ; 

*'  The  Character  and  Influence  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  ; 

**  The  Authenticity  and  Credibility  of  the  Scriptures,  Mira- 
cles, and  Prophecy ; 

"  The  Diffusion  and  Benefits  of  Christianity  ;  and 

"  The  Philosophy  of  Beligion  in  its  Kelation  to  the  Chris- 
tian System. 

"  Upon  one  or  more  of  such  subjects  a  course  of  ten  public 
lectures  shall  be  given,  at  least  once  in  two  or  three  years. 
The  appointment  of  the  lecturer  is  to  be  by  the  concurrent 
action  of  the  directors  and  faculty  of  said  Seminary  and  the 
undersigned  ;  and  it  shall  ordinarily  be  made  two  years  in  ad- 
vance." 


CONTENTS 

LECTURE  I. 

PAGE 

The  Need  of  Understanding  the  False  Religions  . .      1 

The  New  *'  Science  of  Religion  "  to  be  Viewed  with  Discrim- 
ination— The  Study  of  the  Oriental  Systems  too  Long  a 
Monopoly  of  Anti-Christian  Scholars  —  The  Changed 
Aspects  of  the  Missionary  Work — The  Significant  Ex- 
perience of  Ziegenbalz — Fears  Entertained  in  Reference 
to  this  Subject  by  Timid  Believers— The  Different  View 
taken  of  the  Old  Heathen  Systems  of  Greece  and  Rome 
— The  Subject  Considered  from  the  Standpoint  of  Mis- 
sionary Candidates — The  Testimony  of  Intelligent  and 
Experienced  Missionaries — Reasons  for  Studying  Orien- 
tal Systems  Found  in  the  Increased  Intercourse  of  the 
Nations;  in  the  Intellectual  Quickening  of  Oriental 
Minds  by  Education  ;  in  the  Resistance  and  even  Aggres- 
siveness of  Heathen  Systems  ;  in  the  Diversities  of  the 
Buddhist  Faith  in  Different  Lands  —  False  Systems  to 
be  Studied  with  a  Candid  Spirit — The  Distinction  to  be 
Drawn  between  Religion  and  Ethics — Reasons  why  a 
Missionary  should  Pursue  these  Studies  before  Arriving 
on  his  Field — Reasons  why  the  Ministry  at  Home  Should 
Acquaint  Themselves  with  Heatheji  Systems — Their  Ac- 
tive Alliance  with  Various  Forms  of  Western  Infidelity — 
Intellectual  Advantages  to  be  Derived  from  such  Studies 
— A  Broader  and  Warmer  Sympathy  with  Universal  Hu- 
manity to  be  Gained — A  Better  Understanding  of  the  i 
Unique  Supremacy  of  the  Gospel  as  the  Only  Hope  of 
the  World — Pastors  at  Home  are  also  Missionaries  to  the 
Heathen — They  are  Sharers  in  the  Conflict  through  the 
Press. 


CONTENTS 


LECTUKE  n. 

PAOS 

The   Methods   op  the  Early  Christian  Church  in 

Dealing  with  Heathenism 39 

The  Coincidences  of  the  Present  Struggle  with  that  of  the 
First  Christian  Centuries  —  The  Mediaeval  Missionary 
Work  of  a  Simple  Character — That  of  India,  Japan, 
China,  and  the  Turkish  Empire  a  Severe  Intellectual 
Struggle  as  well  as  a  Spiritual  Conquest— Hinduism, 
Buddhism,  Confucianism,  and  Islam,  present  Obstacles 
and  Resistances  Similar  to  those  of  Ancient  Greece  and 
Rome — How  far  Contrasts  Appear  between  the  Early 
and  the  Present  Conquests — The  Methods  of  Paul— His 
Tact  in  Recognizing  Truth  wherever  Found,  and  Using 
it  for  his  Purpose — The  Attitude  of  the  Early  Christian 
Fathers  toward  the  Heathen — Augustine's  Acknowledg- 
ment of  the  Good  which  he  Received  from  Cicero  and 
Plato  —  The  Important  Elements  which  Platonism 
Lacked,  and  which  were  Found  Only  in  the  Gospel  of 
Christ — The  Great  Secret  of  Power  in  the  Early  Church 
Found  in  its  Moral  Earnestness,  as  Shown  by  Simplicity 
of  Life,  and  especially  by  Constancy  even  Unto  a  Mar- 
tyr's Death — The  Contrast  between  the  Frugality  of  the 
Early  Church  and  the  Luxury  and  Vice  of  Roman  Socie- 
ty— The  Great  Need  of  this  Element  of  Success  at  the 
Present  Time — The  Observance  of  a  Wise  Discrimination 
in  the  Estimate  of  Heathen  Philosophy  by  the  Great 
Leaders  of  the  Early  Church  —  The  Generality  with 
which  Classical  Studies  were  Pursued  by  the  Sons  of  the 
more  Enlightened  Christian  Fathers — Method  Among 
the  Leaders — The  Necessity  for  a  thorough  Knowledge 
of  the  Systems  to  be  Met,  as  it  was  then  Recognized— 
The  thorough  Preparation  of  Augustine^  Ambrose,  Irae- 
neus,  and  Others  for  their  Work — Origen's  Masterly  and 
Successful  Reply  to  Celsus — The  Use  Made  by  the  Early 
Fathers  and  by  the  Churches  of  a  Later  Day,  of  the 
Philosophy  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  —  Heathenism  thus 
Conquered  with  its  Own  Weapons. 


CONTENTS  xi 


LECTURE  III. 

PAGK 

The  Successive  Developments  op  Hinduism 73 

The  Great  Variety  in  India's  Religious  Systems — The  Early 
Monotheistic  Nature  Worship  and  its  Gradual  Lapse 
Into  Polytheism  —  The  Influence  of  Environment 
on  the  Development  of  Systems — The  Distinction  be- 
tween Aryanism  and  Brahmanism,  and  the  Abuses  of 
the  Latter  in  its  Doctrines  of  Sacrifice  and  Caste — The 
Causes  which  Led  to  the  Overthrow  of  this  System  of 
Sacerdotalism  —  The  Upanishads  and  the  Beginnings 
of  Philosophy  —  The  Rise  of  Buddhism  and  the  Six 
Schools  of  Philosophy  —  Points  in  Common  between 
them  —  The  Code  of  Manu  and  its  Countercheck  to 
Rationalism — Its  Development  and  its  Scope,  its  Merits 
and  Demerits — The  Meaning  of  the  Word  Hinduism  as 
here  Used  and  the  Means  by  which  it  Gained  Ascendency 
—  The  Place  and  Influence  of  the  Two  Great  Hindu 
Epics,  their  Origin,  the  Compromise  which  they 
Wrought,  and  the  New  and  Important  Doctrines  which 
They  Developed — The  Trimurti  and  the  Incarnations  of 
Vishnu — The  Deterioration  of  the  Literature  and  the 
Faith  of  India  —  The  Puranas  and  the  Tantras  —  The 
Parallels  between  Hinduism  and  Christianity. 


LECTURE  IV. 

The  Bhagavad  Gita  and  the  New  Testament Ill 

The  Great  Interest  Felt  in  this  Poem  by  a  Certain  Class  of 
Readers — Its  Alleged  Parallels  to  the  Scriptures — The 
Plausibility  of  the  Recent  Translation  by  Mr.  Mohini  M. 
Chatter ji — Its  Patronizing  Catholicity — The  Same  Claim 
to  Broad  Charity  by  Chunder  Sen  and  Others — Panthe- 
ism Sacrifices  nothing  to  Charity,  because  God  is  in  All 
Things — All  Moral  Responsibility  Ceases  since  God  Acts 
in  Us — Mr.  Chatterji's  Broad  Knowledge  of  Our  Script- 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAOB 

ures,  and  his  Skill  in  Selecting  Passages  for  His  Pur- 
pose— His  Pleasing  Style — The  Story  of  Krishna  and 
Arjuna  Told  in  the  Interest  of  Caste  and  Pantheism — 
The  Growth  of  the  Krishna  Cult  from  Popular  Legends 
— The  Origin  of  the  Bhagavad  Gita  and  its  Place  in  the 
Mahabharata — Its  Use  of  the  Six  Philosophies — Krish- 
na's Exhortation — The  Issue  of  the  Battle  in  which  Ar- 
juna is  Urged  to  Engage — The  "Resemblances'*  Ex- 
plained by  their  Pantheistic  Interpretation  —  Fancied 
Resemblances  which  are  only  in  the  Sound  of  Words — 
Coincidences  Springing  from  Similar  Causes — The  To- 
tally Different  Meaning  which  Pantheism  gives  them — 
Difference  between  Union  with  Christ  and  the  Pantheis- 
tic Pervasion  of  the  Infinite— The  Differentials  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

LECTURE  V. 

Buddhism  and  Christianity 140 

New  Interest  in  Old  Controversies  Concerning  Buddhism — 
Max  Miiller's  Reply  to  the  Alleged  Influence  of  the  Sys- 
tem on  Christianity — The  Distinction  to  be  made  between 
the  Credible  History  of  Gautama  and  Later  Legends — 
The  Legends  of  the  Pre-existent  States  and  the  Wonders 
Attending  the  Earthly  Life— The  Northern  and  the 
Southern  Buddhism  —  The  Sources  of  the  Principal 
Legends— The  Four  Principal  Doctrines  of  Buddhism, 
Skandas,  Trishna,  Kharma,  and  Nirvana — Difficulties  in 
the  Doctrines  of  Kharma  and  Nirvana — Various  Opin- 
ions of  Scholars  in  Regard  to  the  Nature  of  Nirvana — 
Buddha's  Final  Reticence  on  the  Subject— The  Real 
Goal  at  which  the  Average  Buddhist  Aims— The  Need 
of  a  Careful  Estimate  of  the  Merits  and  Demerits  of 
Buddhism,  and  of  the  Hold  which  it-  is  likely  to  have 
on  Western  Minds— Its  Points  of  Contact  with  Western 
Errors — The  Fact  that  Modern  Buddhism,  like  many 
other  False  Systems,  Claims  Christ  as  a  Believer  in  its 
Principles— The  Theory  that  the  Life  of  Christ  is  Mod- 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

elled  after  that  of  the  Buddha— The  Superior  Authen- 
ticity of  the  Life  of  Christ — The  Unreliable  Character  of 
Buddhist  Legends — The  Intrinsic  Improbability  that  a 
Religion  claiming  a  Distinct  Derivation  from  Jewish 
Sources  would  Borrow  from  a  far-off  Heathen  System — 
The  Contrast  of  Christ's  Loving  Recognition  of  the 
Father  in  Heaven  with  the  Avowed  Atheism  of  Bud- 
dhism—The General  Spirit  of  the  System  Forbids  all 
Thought  of  Borrowing  from  it— Points  of  Contrast. 


LECTURE  VI. 
Mohammedanism  Past  and  Present 178 

Posthumous  Legends  of  Mohammed ;  how  they  were  Pro- 
duced— Ancient  Arabia  and  its  Religious  Systems — The 
Vale  of  Mecca  and  its  Former  Uses — The  Birth  of  Mo- 
hammed, and  his  Religious  Associations — His  Tempera- 
ment and  Character — The  Beginnings  of  his  Prophetic 
Mission — Jews  and  Christians  in  Arabia  and  their  Influ- 
ence on  Mohammedanism — Their  Errors  and  Shortcom- 
ings a  Help  to  the  Reformer — Strange  Doctrines  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  Arabia — The  Lost  Opportunity  of  the 
Early  Christian  Sects  and  the  Fatal  Neglect  of  the  Sur- 
rounding Nations — The  Nomads  of  Arabia  specially  Pre- 
pared for  Conquest  by  their  Manner  of  Life  and  their 
Enlistment  as  Mercenary  Soldiers — The  Question  of  Mo- 
hammed's Real  Character — The  Growth  of  his  Ambition 
and  his  Increasing  Sensuality  and  Cruelty — Blasphemous 
Revelations  in  Behalf  of  the  Prophet's  Own  Lust — Dis- 
criminating Judgment  Required  on  his  Career  as  a  Whole 
— Mohammedan  Schools — Noble  Characters  the  Excep- 
tion—  General  Corrupting  Influence  of  the  System  — 
Its  Conquests  in  Northern  Africa  and  in  the  Soudan  — 
The  Early  Races  of  Northern  Africa,  and  the  General 
Deterioration  of  the  Country — The  Piracies  of  the  Bar- 
bary  States — Civilization  in  Modern  Egypt  Due  to  For- 
eigners—The Bloody  Ravages  of  El  Mahdi  in  the  East 


XIV  CONTENTS 

PAOB 

and  the  Fanatic  Samadu  in  the  West — The  Testimony  of 
a  Secular  Newspaper  Correspondent — Professor  Drum- 
mond  and  Henry  M.  Stanley  on  the  Slave  Traffic  and 
Mohammedan  Civilization  —  The  Alleged  Missionary 
Operations  of  Mohammedans  in  West  Soudan — The  Ac- 
count Given  of  Them  by  Bishop  Crowther,  Schwein- 
furth,  and  Others  —  Canon  Taylor  and  the  Egyptian 
Pashas— The  Effects  of  European  Education — Palgrave 
on  Mohammedan  Intolerance  of  To-day — Mohammedan- 
ism and  Temperance ;  Exaggerated  Accounts  of  it ; 
Proofs  to  the  Contrary — R.  Bosworth  Smith's  Protest 
against  Canon  Taylor's  Extravagant  Glorification  of  Islam 
— His  Plea  for  Missions. 


LECTURE  Vn. 

The  Traces  of  a  Primitive  Monotheism. 


Two  Conflicting  Theories  on  the  History  of  Religion — That  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments— That  of  Modern  Evolution 
— The  Importance  of  this  Question — Professor  Henry  B. 
Smith's  Estimate  of  Ebrard's  Discussion  of  it — Ebrard's 
Summing-up  of  the  Argument — Professor  Naville's  View 
of  the  Subject — Conclusions  of  Rev.  W.  A.  P.  Martin, 
D.  D. ,  and  Max  Miiller — How  far  May  we  Attempt  to  Es- 
tablish the  Fact  of  an  Early  Monotheism  from  Heathen 
Traditions  ? — Conceptions  Differing  in  Different  Nations 
— Evidences  of  Monotheism  in  the  Vedas — Professor 
Banergea's  Testimony — The  Views  Held  by  the  Modern 
Somajes — Monotheism  in  China— Monotheistic  Worship 
in  the  Days  of  Yao  and  Shun,  2300  B.C.— The  Prayer  of 
an  Emperor  of  the  Ming  Dynasty  Quoted  by  Professor 
Legge — Remarkable  Monument  of  Monotheism  in  the 
Temple  of  Heaven — A  Taouist  Prayers-Zoroaster  a  Mon- 
otheistic Reformer — The  Inscription  at  Behistun — Testi- 
mony of  the  Modern  Parsee  Catechism — No  Nation  with- 
out some  Notion  of  a  God  Supreme  over  All — Buddhists 
in  Thibet — Egyptian  Monotheism — The  Greek  Poets — 


CONTENTS  XV 

PAOX 

Old  Monotheism  in  Mexico  and  Peru — Evidences  of 
Ramification  and  Decline  in  Polytheism— Egypt  and  In- 
dia Give  Abundant  Proofs— Hinduism,  Buddhism,  and 
Taouism  all  Show  Degeneration — Mohammedan  Corrup- 
tion since  the  Days  of  the  Early  Caliphs— The  Religions 
of  Greece  and  Rome  Became  Effete— Even  Israel,  in 
Spite  of  Instruction  and  Reproof,  Lapsed  into  Idolatry 
again  and  again— Even  the  Christian  Church  has  Shown 
Similar  Tendencies. 


LECTURE  VIII. 

Indirect  Tributes  op  Heathen  Systems  to  the  Doc- 
trines OP  THE  Bible 2( 

The  Universality  and  Similarity  of  Race  Traditions— Their 
General  Support  of  the  Old  Testament  History — Tradi- 
tions of  the  Creation  Found  in  India,  China,  among  the 
Northern  Turanians  and  some  African  Tribes — The  Fall 
of  Man  as  Traced  in  Assyria  and  among  the  Hindus — 
The  Buddhists  of  Ceylon,  Mongolians,  Africans  and 
Tahitans  had  Similar  Traditions — The  Flood — Traditions 
of  the  Chinese,  the  Iranians,  Greeks,  Assyrians,  Chal- 
deans, and  Peruvians — The  Prevalence  of  Piacular  Sac- 
rifice and  Tokens  of  a  Sense  of  Guilt— Traditions  or 
Traces  of  Substitution  Found  in  the  Vedas — Faint  Traces 
in  the  Religion  of  the  Egyptians — Traditions  of  the  Iro- 
quois— Prophecies  Looking  to  Divine  Deliverers — The 
Tenth  Avatar  of  Vishnu  yet  to  Come  as  a  Restorer  of 
Righteousness — The  Influence  of  the  Tradition  as  Util- 
ized by  a  Missionary — A  Norse  Deliverer  and  Millennium 
— The  Prediction  of  the  Cumaean  Sibyl  Forty  Years  be- 
fore the  Birth  of  Christ — Prevailing  Conceptions  of  some 
Mediator  between  God  and  Man — The  Hindu  Krishna  as 
an  Example — Changes  in  Buddhism  from  the  Old  Athe- 
ism to  Theism,  and  even  to  a  Doctrine  of  Salvation  by 
Faith — A  Trinity  and  at  last  a  Saviour — All  the  False  \ 
Systems  Claiming  the  Teachings  and  the  Character  of  j 
Christ. 


XVI  CONTENTS 


LECTURE  IX 

PAGE 

Ethical  Tendencies  op  the  Eastern  and  the  West- 
ern Philosophies 294 

The  Prevalence  of  Speculation  in  all  Ages  in  Regard  to  the 
Great  Questions  of  Man's  Origin  and  Destiny,  and  His  Re- 
lations to  God — The  Various  Schemes  which  have  Seem- 
ingly Dispensed  with  the  Necessity  for  a  Creator  in  Ac- 
counting for  the  Existence  of  the  Visible  World— The 
Ancient  Atomic  Theories  and  Modern  Evolution — Kan- 
ada,  Lucretius,  Herbert  Spencer — Darwin's  Theory  of 
the  Development  of  Species— Similar  Theories  Ascribed 
to  the  Chinese— The  Ethical  Difficulties  Attending  Many 
Philosophic  Speculations,  Ancient  and  Modern — Hindu 
Pantheism  and  Moral  Responsibility — In  the  Advance 
from  Instinct  to  Conscience  and  Religion,  where  does 
Moral  Sentiment  Begin  ? — If  It  was  Right  for  Primeval 
Man  to  Maraud,  why  Might  not  Robbery  again  Become 
His  Duty  in  Case  of  Extreme  Deterioration  ? — Mr.  Spen- 
cer's Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Moral  Intuition — The 
Nobler  Origin  which  the  Scriptures  Assign  to  Man's 
Moral  Nature — The  Demonstrated  Possibility  of  the  Most 
Radical  and  Sudden  Moral  Changes  Produced  by  the 
Christian  Faith — Tendency  of  Ancient  and  Modern  The- 
ories to  Lower  the  General  Estimate  of  Man — The  Dig- 
nity with  which  the  New  Testament  Invests  Him — The 
Ethical  Tendency  of  the  Doctrine  of  Evolution — The 
Opinion  Expressed  on  the  Subject  by  Goldwin  Smith — 
Peschel's  Frank  Admission — The  Pessimistic  Tendency 
of  all  Anti-Biblical  Theories  of  Man's  Origin,  Life,  and 
Destiny — Buddha,  Schopenhauer,  and  the  Agnostics — 
The  more  Hopeful  Influence  of  the  Bible  —  The  Ten- 
dency of  all  Heathen  Religions  and  'all  Anti  -  Christian 
Philosophies  toward  Fatalism  —  Pantheism  and  the 
Philosophy  of  Spinoza  Agreeing  in  this  Respect  with 
the  Hindu  Vedantism  —  The  Late  Samuel  Johnson's 
"Piety  of  Pantheism,"  and  His  Definition  of  Fatal- 


CONTENTS  XVii 

PAGE 

ism  —  What  Saves  the  Scriptural  Doctrine  of  Fore-or- 
dination from  Fatalism  —  The  Province  of  Faith  and  of 
Trust. 

LECTURE  X. 
The  Divine  Supremacy  of  the  Christian  Faith 338 


The  Claim  that  Christianity  is  the  only  True  Religion — The        \^^ 
Peculiar  Tendencies  of  Modern  Times  to  Deny  this  Su-  ^' 

premacy  and  Monopoly  —  It  is  not  Enough  in  Such 
Times  to  Simply  Ignore  the  Challenge — The  Unique 
Claim  must  be  Defended  —  First:  Christianity  is  Dif- 
ferentiated from  all  Other  Religions  by  the  Fact  of  a 
Divine  Sacrifice  for  Sin  —  Mohammedanism,  though 
Founded  on  a  Belief  in  the  True  God  and  Partly  on  the 
Old  Testament  Teachings,  Offers  no  Saviour — No  Idea 
of  Fatherhood  is  Found  in  any  Non-Christian  Faith — 
The  Gloom  of  Buddhism  and  the  Terror  of  Savage 
Tribes — Hinduism  a  System  of  Self-Help  Merely — The 
Recognized  Grandeur  of  the  Principle  of  Self-Sacrifice  as 
Reflected  from  Christ — Augustine  Found  a  Way  of  Life 
only  in  His  Divine  Sacrifice — Second :  No  Other  Faith 
than  Christianity  is  Made  Effectual  by  the  Power  of  a 
Divine  and  Omnipotent  Spirit — The  Well- Attested  Fact 
of  Radical  Transformations  of  Character — Other  Systems 
have  Made  Converts  only  by  Warlike  Conquest  or  by 
Such  Motives  as  might  Appeal  to  the  Natural  Heart — 
Christianity  Rises  above  all  Other  Systems  in  the  Divine 
Personality  of  Christ— The  Contrast  in  this  Respect  be- 
tween Him  and  the  Authors  of  the  Non-Christian  Systems 
— His  Attractions  and  His  Power  Acknowledged  by  all 
Classes  of  Men — The  Inferiority  of  Socrates  as  Compared 
with  Christ— Bushnell's  Tribute  to  the  Perfection  of  this 
Divine  Personality — Its  Power  Attested  in  the  Life  of  Paul 
— The  Adaptation  of  Christianity  to  all  the  Circumstances 
and  Conditions  of  Life — Abraham  and  the  Vedic  Patri- 
archs, Moses  and  Manu,  David's  Joy  and  Gratitude,  and 
the  Gloom  of  Hindu  or   Buddhist   Philosophy  —  Only 


XViil  CONTENTS 

PAQX 

Christianity  Brings  Man  to  True  Penitence  and  Humility 
— The  Recognized  Beauty  and  the  Convincing  Lesson  of 
the  Prodigal  Son — The  Contrast  between  Mohammed's 
Blasphemous  Suras,  which  Justify  his  Lust,  and  the  Deep 
Contrition  of  David  in  the  Fifty-first  Psalm — The  Moral 
Purity  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  Contrasted  with 
all  Other  Sacred  Books — The  Scriptures  Pure  though 
Written  in  Ages  of  Corruption  and  Surrounded  by  Im- 
moral Influences — Christ  Belongs  to  no  Land  or  Age — 
The  Gospel  Alone  is  Adapted  to  all  Races  and  all  Time  as 
the  Universal  Religion  of  Mankind — Only  Christianity 
Recognizes  the  True  Relation  between  Divine  Help  and 
Human  Effort — It  Encourages  by  Omnipotent  Co-opera- 
tion— The  All-Comprehensive  Presentation  of  the  Gos- 
pel. 

Appendix 381 


ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS 


AND 


CHRISTIANITY 

LECTUEE  I. 

THE  NEED  OF  UNDERSTANDING  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS 

It  is  said  that  the  very  latest  among  the  sciences  is 
the  Science  of  Eeligion.  Without  pausing  to  inquire 
how  far  it  admits  of  scientific  treatment,  certain  rea- 
sons which  may  be  urged  for  the  study  of  the  exist- 
ing religions  of  the  world  will  be  considered  in  this 
lecture.  It  must  be  admitted  in  the  outset  that 
those  who  have  been  the  pioneers  in  this  field  of  re- 
search have  not,  as  a  rule,  been  advocates  of  the 
Christian  faith.  The  anti-Christian  theory  that  all 
religions  may  be  traced  to  common  causes,  that  com- 
mon wants  and  aspirations  of  mankind  have  led  to 
the  development  of  various  systems  according  to  en- 
vironment, has  until  recently  been  the  chief  spur  to 
this  class  of  studies.  Accordingly,  the  religions  of 
the  world  have  been  submitted  to  some  preconceived 
philosophy  of  language,  or  ethnology,  or  evolution, 


2       ORIENTAL  MELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

with  the  emphasis  placed  upon  such  facts  as  seemed 
to  comport  with  this  theory.  Meanwhile  there  has 
been  an  air  of  broad-minded  charity  in  the  manner 
in  which  the  apologists  of  Oriental  systems  have 
treated  the  subject.  They  have  included  Christ  in 
the  same  category  with  Plato  and  Confucius,  and 
have  generally  placed  Him  at  the  head;  and  this 
supposed  breadth  of  sentiment  has  given  them  a  de- 
gree of  influence  with  dubious  and  wavering  Chris- 
tians, as  well  as  with  multitudes  who  are  without 
faith  of  any  kind. 

In  this  country  the  study  of  comparative  religion 
has  been  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  non-evan- 
gelical writers.  We  have  had  *'The  Ten  Great  Be- 
ligions,"  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  James  Freeman 
Clarke ;  "  The  Oriental  Religions,"  written  with  great 
labor  by  the  late  Samuel  Johnson ;  and  Mr.  Moncure 
D.  Conway's  "  Anthology,"  with  its  flowers,  gathered 
from  the  sacred  books  of  all  systems,  and  so  chosen 
as  to  carry  the  implication  that  they  all  are  equally 
inspired.  Many  other  works  designed  to  show  that 
Christianity  was  developed  from  ancient  sun  myths, 
or  was  only  a  plagiarism  upon  the  old  mythologies 
of  India,  have  been  current  among  us.  But  strange- 
ly enough,  the  Christian  Church  has  seemed  to  re- 
gard this  subject  as  scarcely  worthy  of  serious  con- 
sideration. With  the  exception  of  a  very  ajble  work 
on  Buddhism,*  and  several  review  articles  on  Hin- 
duism, written  by  Professor  S.  H.  Kellogg,  very 
little  has  been  published  from  the  Orthodox  stand- 

*  The  Light  of  Asia  and  the  Light  of  the  World.  Macmillan  & 
Co. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  BELIGIONS       3 

point.*  The  term  "  heathenism  "  has  been  used  as 
an  expression  of  contempt,  and  has  been  applied 
with  too  little  discrimination. 

There  is  a  reason,  perhaps,  why  these  systems 
have  been  underestimated.  It  so  happened  that  the 
races  among  whom  the  modem  missionary  enterprise 
has  carried  on  its  earlier  work  were  mostly  simple 
types  of  pagans,  found  in  the  wilds  of  America,  in 
Greenland  and  Labrador,  in  the  West  Indies,  on  the 
African  coast,  or  in  the  islands  of  the  Pacific ;  and 
these  worshippers  of  nature  or  of  spirits  gave  a  very 
different  impression  from  that  which  the  Apostles 
and  the  Early  Church  gained  from  their  intercourse 
with  the  conquering  Romans  or  the  polished  and 
philosophic  Greeks.  Our  missionary  work  has  been 
symbolized,  as  Sir  William  W.  Hunter  puts  it,  by  a 
band  of  half-naked  savages  listening  to  a  missionary 
seated  under  a  palm-tree,  and  receiving  his  message 
with  child-like  and  unquestioning  faith. 

But  in  the  opening  of  free  access  to  the  great 
Asiatic  nations,  higher  grades  of  men  have  been 
f  oimd,  and  with  these  we  now  have  chiefly  to  do.  The 
pioneer  of  India's  missions,  the  devoted  Ziegenbalg, 
had  not  been  long  in  his  field  before  he  learned  the 
mistake  which  the  churches  in  Europe  had  made  in 
regard  to  the  religion  and  philosophy  of  the  Hindus. 
He  laid  aside  all  his  old  notions  when  he  came  to 
encounter  the  metaphysical  subtleties  of  Hindu 
thought,  when  he  learned  something  of  the  immense 

*  The  late  Professor  Moffat,  of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary, 
published  a  Comparative  History  of  Religions^  but  its  field  was 
too  broad  for  a  thorough  treatment. 


4       ORIENTAL  RELIOI0N8  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Hindu  literature,  the  voluminous  ethics,  the  mysti- 
cal and  weird  mythologies,  the  tremendous  power  of 
tradition  and  social  customs — when,  in  short,  he 
found  his  way  hedged  up  by  habits  of  thought 
wholly  different  from  his  own  ;  and  he  resolved  to 
know  something  of  the  religion  which  the  people  of 
India  already  possessed. 

For  the  benefit  of  others  who  might  follow  him  he 
wrote  a  book  on  Hinduism  and  its  relations  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  sent  it  to  Europe  for  publication.  But 
so  strong  were  the  preconceived  notions  which  pre- 
vailed among  his  brethren  at  home,  that  his  manu- 
script, instead  of  being  published,  was  suppressed. 
"  You  were  not  sent  to  India  to  study  Hinduism," 
wrote  Franke,  "but  to  preach  the  Gospel."  But 
Ziegenbalg  certainly  was  not  wanting  in  his  estimate 
of  the  chief  end  in  view,  and  his  success  was  un- 
doubtedly far  greater  for  the  intelligent  plan  upon 
which  he  labored.  The  time  came  when  a  change 
had  passed  over  the  society  which  had  sent  him 
forth.  Others,  less  friendly  than  he  to  the  Gospel 
of  Christ,  had  studied  Hinduism,  and  had  paraded 
it  as  a  rival  of  Christianity ;  and  in  seK-defence 
against  this  flank  movement,  the  long-neglected 
work  of  Ziegenbalg  was  brought  forth  from  obscu- 
rity and  published. 

It  is  partly  in  self-defence  against  similar  influ- 
ences, that  the  Christian  Church  everywhere  is  now 
turning  increased  attention  to  the' study  of  Compara- 
tive Eeligion.  In  Great  Britain  a  wider  interest  has 
been  felt  in  the  subject  than  in  this  coimtry.  And 
yet,  even  there  the  Church  has  been  far  behind  the 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS       5 

enemies  of  evangelical  tnith  in  comparing  Christian- 
ity with  false  systems.  Dr.  James  Stalker,  of  Glas- 
gow, said  a  few  months  since  that,  whereas  it  might 
be  expected  that  the  advocates  of  the  true  faith 
would  be  the  first  to  compare  and  contrast  it  with 
the  false  systems  of  the  world,  the  work  had  been 
left  rather  to  those  who  were  chiefly  interested  in 
disparaging  the  truth  and  exalting  error.  Yet  some- 
thing has  been  done.  Such  men  as  Sir  Monier 
Williams,  Sir  William  Muir,  Professors  Rawlinson, 
Fairbaim,  and  Legge,  Bishop  Carpenter,  Canon 
Hardwick,  Doctors  Caird,  Dodds,  Mitchell,  and 
others,  have  given  the  false  systems  of  the  East  a 
thorough  and  candid  treatment  from  the  Christian 
standpoint.  The  Church  Missionary  Society  holds 
a  lectureship  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  non-Chris- 
tian religions  as  a  preparation  for  missionary  work. 
And  the  representatives  of  that  Society  in  the  Pun- 
jab have  instituted  a  course  of  study  on  these  lines 
for  missionaries  recently  arrived,  and  have  offered 
prizes  for  the  best  attainments  therein.  Though  we 
are  later  in  this  field  of  investigation,  yet  here  also 
there  is  springing  up  a  new  interest,  and  it  is  safe 
to  predict  that  within  another  decade  the  real  char- 
acter of  the  false  religions  will  be  more  generally 
understood. 

The  prejudice  which  has  existed  in  regard  to  this 
subject  has  taken  two  different  forms  :  First,  there 
has  been  the  broad  assumption  upon  which  Franke 
wrote  to  Ziegenbalg,  that  all  knowledge  of  heathen- 
ism is  worse  than  useless.  Good  men  are  asking, 
"  Is  not  such  a  study  a  waste  of  energy,  when  we  are 


6       ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

charged  with  proclaiming  the  only  saving  truth  ?  Is 
not  downright  earnestness  better  than  any  possible 
knowledge  of  philosophies  and  superstitions  ?  "  And 
we  answer,  "Yes:  by  all  means,  if  only  the  one  is 
possible."  Another  view  of  the  subject  is  more  seri- 
ous. May  there  not,  after  all,  be  danger  in  the 
study  of  false  systems?  Will  there  not  be  found 
perplexing  parallels  which  will  shake  our  trust  in 
the  positive  and  exclusive  supremacy  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  ? 

Now,  even  if  there  were  at  first  some  risks  to  a 
simple,  child-like  confidence,  yet  a  timid  attitude  in- 
volves far  greater  risks  :  it  amounts  to  a  half  sur- 
render, and  it  is  wholly  out  of  place  in  this  age  of 
fearless  and  aggressive  discussion,  when  all  truth  is 
challenged,  and  every  form  of  error  must  be  met. 
Moreover,  in  a  thorough  study  there  is  no  danger.  Sir 
Monier  Williams  tells  us  that  at  first  he  was  surprised 
and  a  little  troubled,  but  in  the  end  he  was  more 
than  ever  impressed  with  the  transcendent  truths  of 
the  Christian  faith.  Professor  S.  H.  Kellogg  assures 
us  that  the  result  of  his  careful  researches  in  the 
Oriental  systems  is  a  profounder  conviction  of  the 
great  truths  of  the  Gospel  as  divine.  And  even 
Max  Miiller  testifies  that,  while  making  every  allow- 
ance for  whatever  is  good  in  the  ethnic  faiths,  he 
has  been  the  more  fully  convinced  of  the  great  supe- 
riority of  Christianity.  Really,  those  are  in  danger 
who  receive  only  the  superficial  and  misleading  rep- 
resentations of  heathenism  which  one  is  sure  to  meet 
in  our  magazine  literature,  or  in  works  like  "  Robert 
Elsmere  "  and  "  The  Light  of  Asia." 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS       7 

One  cannot  fail  to  mark  the  different  light  in 
which  we  view  the  mythologies  of  the  Greeks  and 
Eomans.  If  their  religious  beliefs  and  speculations 
had  remained  a  secret  until  our  time,  if  the  high 
ethical  precepts  of  Seneca  and  Marcus  Aurelius  had 
only  now  been  proclaimed,  and  Socrates  had  just 
been  celebrated  in  glowing  verse  as  the  "  Light  of 
Greece,"  there  would  be  no  little  commotion  in  the 
religious  world,  and  thousands  with  only  weak  and 
troubled  faith  might  be  disturbed.  But  simply  be- 
cause we  thoroughly  understand  the  mythology  of 
Greece  and  Bome,  we  have  no  fear.  We  welcome  all 
that  it  can  teach  us.  We  cordially  acknowledge  the 
virtues  of  Socrates  and  assign  him  his  true  place. 
We  enrich  the  fancy  and  awaken  the  intellectual  en- 
ergies of  our  youth  by  classical  studies,  and  Christi- 
anity shines  forth  with  new  lustre  by  contrast  with 
the  heathen  systems  which  it  encountered  in  the 
Roman  Empire  ages  ago. 

And  yet  that  was  no  easy  conquest.  The  early 
church,  when  brought  face  to  face  with  the  culture  of 
Greece  and  the  self-assertion  of  Roman  power,  when 
confronted  with  profound  philosophies  like  those  of 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  with  the  subtleties  of  the  Sto- 
ics, and  with  countless  admixtures  of  Persian  mys- 
ticism, had,  humanly  speaking,  quite  as  formidable  a 
task  as  those  that  are  presented  in  the  heathen  sys- 
tems of  to-day.  Very  few  of  the  champions  of  mod- 
em heathenism  can  compare  with  Celsus,  and  there 
are  no  more  subtle  philosophies  than  those  of  ancient 
Greece.  Evidently,  the  one  thing  needed  to  disen- 
chant the  false  systems  of  our  time  is  a  clear  and  ao- 


8       ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

curate  knowledge  of  their  merits  and  demerits,  and 
of  their  true  relation  to  Christianity. 

It  will  be  of  advantage,  for  one  thing,  if  we  learn 
to  give  credit  to  the  non-Christian  religions  for  the 
good  which  they  may  fairly  claim.  There  has  existed 
a  feeling  that  they  had  no  rights  which  Christian 
men  were  bound  to  respect.  They  have  been  looked 
upon  as  systems  of  unmixed  evil,  whose  enormities 
it  were  impossible  to  exaggerate.  And  all  such  mis- 
conceptions and  exaggerations  have  only  led  to  seri- 
ous reactions.  Anti-Christian  writers  have  made 
great  capital  of  the  alleged  misrepresentations  which 
zealous  friends  of  missions  have  put  upon  heathen- 
ism ;  and  there  is  always  great  force  in  any  appeal 
for  fair  play,  on  whichever  side  the  truth  may  lie. 
Where  the  popular  Christian  idea  has  presented  a 
low  view  of  some  system,  scarcely  rising  above  the 
grade  of  fetichism,  the  apologists  have  triumphantly 
displayed  a  profound  philosophy.  Where  the  masses 
of  Christian  people  have  credited  whole  nations  with 
no  higher  notions  of  worship  than  a  supreme  trust 
in  senseless  stocks  and  stones,  some  skilful  defender 
has  claimed  that  the  idols  were  only  the  outward 
symbols  of  an  indwelling  conception  of  deity,  and 
has  proceeded  with  keen  relish  to  point  out  a  similar 
use  of  symbols  in  the  pictures  and  images  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

From  one  extreme  many  people  have  passed  to 
another,  and  in  the  end  have  credited  heathen  sys- 
tems with  greater  merit  than  they  possess.  A 
marked  illustration  of  this  fact  is  found  in  the  influ- 
ence which  was  produced  by  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS       9 

"Light  of  Asia."  Sentimental  readers,  passing  from 
surprise  to  credulity,  were  ready  to  invest  the  "  gen- 
tle Indian  Saint "  with  Christian  conceptions  which 
no  real  Buddhist  ever  thought  of.  Mr.  Arnold  him- 
self is  said  to  have  expressed  surprise  that  people 
should  have  given  to  his  poem  so  serious  an  inter- 
pretation, or  should  have  imagined  for  a  moment 
that  he  intended  to  compare  Buddhism  with  the 
higher  and  purer  teachings  of  the  New  Testament. 

In  considering  some  of  the  reasons  which  may  be 
urged  for  the  study  of  false  systems,  we  will  first 
proceed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  candidate  for  the 
work  of  missions.  And  here  there  is  a  broad  and 
general  reason  which  seems  too  obvious  to  require 
much  argument.  The  skilful  general  or  the  civil 
engineer  is  supposed,  of  course,  to  survey  the  field  of 
contemplated  operations  ere  he  enters  upon  his  work. 
The  late  Dr.  Duff,  in  urging  the  importance  of  a 
thorough  understanding  of  the  systems  which  a  mis- 
sionary expects  to  encounter,  illustrated  his  point  by 
a  reference  to  the  great  Akbar,  who  before  entering 
upon  the  conquest  of  India,  twice  visited  the  country 
in  disguise,  that  he  might  gain  a  complete  knowledge 
of  its  topography,  its  strongholds,  and  its  points  of 
weakness,  and  the  best  methods  of  attack. 

While  all  religious  teachers  must  understand  their 
tasks,  the  need  of  special  preparation  is  particularly 
urgent  in  the  foreign  missionary,  owing  to  his  change 
of  environment.  Many  ideas  and  methods  to  which 
he  has  been  trained,  and  which  would  serve  him  well 
among  a  people  of  his  own  race,  might  be  wholly  out 
of  place  in  India  or  China.     Bam  Chandra  Bose,  M,  A. 


10     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

— himself  a  converted  Braliman — has  treated  with 
great  discrimination  the  argument  frequently  used, 
that  the  missionary  "  need  only  to  proclaim  the  Glad 
Tidings."  He  says :  "  That  the  simple  story  of  Christ 
and  him  crucified  is,  after  all,  the  truth  on  which  the 
regeneration  of  the  Christian  and  the  non-Christian 
lands  must  hang,  no  one  will  deny.  This  story,  ever 
fresh,  is  inherently  fitted  to  touch  the  dead  heart  into 
life,  and  to  infuse  vitality  into  effete  nationalities  and 
dead  civilizations.  But  a  great  deal  of  rubbish  has 
to  be  removed  in  heathen  lands,  ere  its  legitimate 
consequences  can  be  realized.  And  a  patient,  persist- 
ent study  of  the  false  religions,  and  the  complicated 
systems  of  philosophy  associated  with  them,  enables 
the  missionary  to  throw  out  of  the  way  those  heaps 
of  prejudices  and  errors  which  make  it  impossible 
for  the  story  of  the  cross  to  reach  and  influence  the 
heart."  ^  It  has  been  very  wisely  said  that  "  any  frag- 
ment of  truth  which  lies  in  a  heathen  mind  un- 
acknowledged is  an  insuperable  b£irrier  against  con- 
viction :  recognized  and  used,  it  might  prove  a  help  ; 
neglected  and  ignored,  it  is  insurmountable."  f 

The  late  Dr.  Mullens  learned  by  careful  observa- 
tion, that  the  intellectual  power  of  the  Hindus  had 
been  so  warped  by  false  reasoning,  that  "  they  could 
scarcely  imderstand  how,  when  two  principles  are 
contradictory,  one  must  be  given  up  as  false.  They 
are  prepared  to  receive  both  sides  of  a  contradiction 
as  true,  and  they  feel  at  liberty  to'  adopt  that  which 
seems  the  most  comfortable.  And  nothing  but  a 
full  exposure  of  evil,  with  a  clear  statement  of  the 

*  Metlwdist  Quarterly,     f  Quoted  in  Manual  of  India  Missions. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     11 

antagonistic  truth,  will  suffice  to  awaken  so  pervert- 
ed an  intellect."  * 

The  missionary  has  often  been  surprised  to  find 
that  the  idea  which  he  supposed  was  clearly  under- 
stood, was  wholly  warped  by  the  medium  of  Hindu 
thought,  as  a  rod  is  apparently  warped  when  plunged 
into  a  stream,  or  as  a  beautiful  countenance  is  dis- 
torted by  the  waves  and  irregularities  of  an  imperfect 
mirror.  To  the  preacher,  sin,  for  example,  is  an 
enormity  in  the  sight  of  God ;  but  to  his  Hindu 
listener  it  may  be  only  a  breach  of  custom,  or  a 
ceremonial  uncleanness.  The  indwelling  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  it  is  set  forth  in  Paul's  Epistles,  is  to  the 
missionary  a  union  in  which  his  personality  is  still 
maintained  in  blest  fellowship  with  God,  while  to  his 
audience  it  may  be  only  that  out  and  out  pantheism 
in  which  the  deity  within  us  supplants  all  individual 
personality,  and  not  only  excludes  all  joy,  but  all  re- 
sponsibility. 

Professor  W.  G.  T.  Shedd  has  clearly  pointed  out 
the  fact  that  the  modem  missionary  has  a  harder 
task  in  dealing  with  the  perversions  of  the  heathen 
mind  than  that  to  which  the  Apostles  of  the  Early 
Church  were  called,  owing  to  the  prevalence  in  India 
and  elsewhere  of  that  pantheism  which  destroys 
the  sense  of  moral  responsibility.  He  says  :  "  The 
Greek  and  Roman  theism  left  the  human  will  free 
and  responsible,  and  thus  the  doctrine  of  sin  could 
be  taught.  But  the  pantheistic  systems  of  the  East 
destroy  free  will,  by  identifying  God  and  man ;  and 
hence  it  is  impossible  to  construct  the  doctrine  of 
♦  Manual  of  India  Mmiom. 


12     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

sin  and  atonement  except  by  first  refuting  tlie  pan* 
theistic  ethics.  The  missionary  can  get  no  help 
from  conscience  in  his  preaching,  when  this  theory  of 
God  and  the  world  has  the  ground.  But  St.  Paul 
appealed  confidently  *  to  every  man's  conscience  in 
the  sight  of  God,'  and  called  upon  the  ethics  and 
theology  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers  for 
a  corroboration.  The  early  Apologists,  Tertullian 
and  others,  did  the  same  thing." 

The  testimonies  which  have  been  given  within  the 
last  few  years,  by  the  most  intelligent  and  observing 
missionaries  in  Eastern  lands,  are  of  such  peculiar 
significance  and  force,  that  I  shall  be  justified  in 
quoting  a  few  at  some  length.  Rev.  George  William 
Knox,  D.D.,  of  Tokio,  Japan,  in  accepting  an  elec- 
tion to  an  honorary  membership  of  the  American 
Society  of  Comparative  Religion,  wrote,  December 
17,  1890 :  "  I  am  deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  ob- 
jects of  the  Society,  as  indeed  every  missionary  must 
be.  We  have  practical  demonstrations  of  the  value 
of  research  into  the  ethnic  religions.  Even  at  home 
the  value  of  such  research  has  already  been  great, 
but  in  these  non-Christian  lands  it  is  indispensa- 
ble. It  is  true  that  non-Christian  systems,  as  f  oimd 
among  the  people,  rarely  exhibit  the  forms  or  the 
doctrines  which  we  learn  from  books,  but  I  presimae 
the  same  would  be  said  by  an  intelligent  Asiatic, 
were  he  to  study  our  sacred  books  and  then  compare 
results  with  much  of  the  religion  which  calls  itself 
Christian  in  the  West.  And  yet  for  the  study  even 
of  the  most  debased  forms  of  Christianity  in  South 
America  or  Mexico,  let  us  say,  we  must  needs  begin 


THE  STUDY   OF  TBE  7AL8E  RELIGIONS     13 

with  our  sacred  books.  And  so  it  is  with  debased 
Buddhism  in  Japan.  The  Buddhism  of  Ceylon  and 
of  the  books  is  unknown  to  this  people,  and  when  it 
is  used  as  the  basis  of  argument  or  exposition  we  do 
not  hit  the  mark.  Yet,  after  all,  our  debt  is  immeas- 
urable to  the  societies  and  scholars  that  have  made 
accessible  the  sources  that  have  yielded  at  last  such 
systems  as  are  dominant  here. 

*•  The  study  of  non-Christian  systems  is  essential 
to  the  missionary,  even  though  he  does  not  refer  to 
them  in  his  preaching,  but  contents  himself  with  de- 
livering the  Gospel  message.  And  that  is  the  rule 
with  missionaries,  so  far  as  I  know.  But  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  native  systems  is  imperative,  that  we 
may  properly  present  our  own.  Otherwise  we  waste 
time  in  teaching  over  again  that  which  is  already 
fully  known,  or  we  so  speak  that  our  truth  takes  on 
the  form  of  error,  or  we  so  underestimate  the  thought 
of  those  whom  we  address,  that  the  preaching  of  the 
wisdom  of  God  sounds  in  their  ears  the  preaching  of 
foolishness.  The  adaptation  of  preaching  to  the 
hearers  of  Asiatic  lands  is  a  task  that  may  well  make 
us  thankful  for  every  help  that  may  be  furnished 
us.  .  .  .  The  missionary  is  far  too  apt  to  come 
from  the  West  with  exalted  notions  of  his  own  su- 
periority, and  with  a  feeling  of  condescending  pity 
for  men  who,  perhaps,  have  pondered  the  deep 
things  of  the  universe  far  more  than  he.  Let  him 
really  master  a  philosophy  like  the  Confucian,  and 
he  will  better  illustrate  the  Christian  grace  of  hu- 
mility, and  be  so  much  the  better  prepared  for  his 
work.     His  study  will  show  him  how  astonishing  is 


14:     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

the  light  that  has  shone  upon  those  men  whom  he 
has  thought  of  as  wholly  in  darkness.  It  will  thus 
show  him  the  true  way  of  approach,  and  enable  him 
to  follow  the  lines  of  least  resistance.  It  will  also 
reveal  to  him  what  is  the  essential  character  of  the 
divine  message  which  he  himself  bears.  He  will 
separate  that  peculiar  and  spiritual  truth  which  is 
the  Word  of  Life,  and  will  bring  it  as  glad  tidings  of 
great  joy.  Surely  no  man  can  study  these  ethnic 
faiths,  no  matter  with  what  appreciation  of  their 
measure  of  truth,  and  rejoicing  in  it,  without  a  con- 
stantly growing  conviction  that  the  one  power  that 
converts  men  and  establishes  God's  kingdom  on  earth 
is  the  Word  that  is  eternal,  the  Son  of  God.  He 
gathers  in  Himself  all  the  truth  of  all  the  religions, 
and  He  adds  that  divine  Salvation  and  Life  for 
which  all  the  nations  have  waited,  and  without 
which  the  highest  and  deepest  thought  remains  un- 
able to  bring  men  into  living  communion  with  the 
God  and  Father  of  us  aU." 

Eev.  Martyn  Clark,  D.D.,  Missionary  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  at  Umritsur,  India,  has  given 
thorough  study  to  the  Sanscrit,  and  has  thereby  been 
enabled  to  expose  the  fallacies  and  misrepresentations 
which  the  Arya  Somaj,  in  its  bitter  controversy 
with  the  Gospel,  has  put  forth  as  to  the  real  charac' 
ter  of  the  Vedic  literature.  No  man  is  better  able  to 
judge  of  the  importance  of  a  correct  understanding 
of  the  errors  of  the  non-Christian  systems  than  he. 
In  a  letter  accepting  an  honorary  membership  of  the 
above-named  Society  he  says :  "  The  object  of  the 
Society  is  one  in  which  I  am  deeply  interested,  and 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIQIONS     15 

I  shall  at  all  times  do  what  I  can  to  further  its 
aims.  I  am  convinced  that  there  is  much  that  is 
helpful  to  the  cause  of  Christ  to  be  learned  in  this 
field  of  research." 

Rev.  H.  Blodgett,  D.D.,  veteran  Missionary  of  the 
American  Board  in  Peking,  in  accepting  a  similar 
honor,  says :  *^  My  interest  in  these  studies  has  been 
deep  and  growing.  It  is  high  time  that  such  a  so- 
ciety as  you  represent  should  be  formed.  The  study 
of  Comparative  Religion  has  long  enough  been  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  hold  all  religions  to  be  the 
outcome  of  the  natural  powers  of  the  human  mind, 
unaided  by  a  revelation  from  God.  It  is  time  that 
those  who  believe  in  the  revelation  from  God  in  the 
Old  Testament,  and  in  the  New  Testament  founded 
upon  the  Old,  should  study  the  great  ethnic  relig- 
ions in  the  light  derived  from  the  Bible." 

Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  D.D.,  long  a  Missionary  of 
the  Presbyterian  Mission  in  Beyrout,  Syria,  says  in 
the  same  connection  :  "  The  great  missionary  move- 
ment of  our  age  has  brought  us  face  to  face  with 
problems  and  conflicts  which  are  far  more  deep  and 
serious  than  those  which  confront  evangelistic  efforts 
in  our  own  land,  and  it  is  of  the  highest  importance 
that  the  Church  at  home  should  know  as  fully  as  pos- 
sible the  peculiar  and  profound  difficulties  of  work  in 
foreign  fields.  These  ancient  religions  of  the  East 
are  behind  intrenchments,  and  they  are  prepared  to 
make  a  desperate  resistance.  Those  who  have  never 
come  into  close  contact  with  their  adherents,  and  dis- 
covered by  experience  the  difficulty  of  dislodging 
them  and  convincing  them  of  the  truth  of  the  Gos- 


16     OEIENTAL  BELIOIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

pel,  may  very  properly  misunderstand  the  work  of 
the  foreign  missionary  and  wonder  at  his  apparent 
failure,  or  at  least  his  slow  progress.  But  I  wonder 
at  the  success  attained  in  the  foreign  field,  and  con- 
sider it  far  more  glorious  and  remarkable  than  it  is 
generally  accounted  to  be.  A  fuller  acquaintance 
with  the  strength,  and  resources,  and  local  eclat,  and 
worldly  advantages  of  these  false  religions,  will  give 
the  Church  at  home  greater  patience  and  faith  in 
the  great  work  of  evangelizing  the  nations."  * 

A  specific  reason  for  the  study  of  the  non-Chris- 
tian religions  is  found  in  the  changes  which  our  in- 
tercourse with  Eastern  nations  has  already  wrought. 
With  our  present  means  of  intercommunication  we 
are  brought  face  to  face  with  them,  and  the  contact 
of  our  higher  vitality  has  aroused  them  from  the  com- 
parative slumber  of  ages.  Even  our  missionary  ef- 
forts have  given  new  vigor  to  the  resistance  which 
must  be  encountered.  We  have  trained  up  a  gener- 
ation of  men  to  a  higher  intellectual  activity,  and  to 
a  more  earnest  spirit  of  inquiry,  and  they  are  by  no 
means  all  won  over  to  the  Christian  faith.  And 
there  are  thousands  in  India  whom  a  Government 

*  Similar  views,  thongh  in  briefer  terms,  have  been  presented  by 
Rev.  William  A.  P.  Martin,  D.D.,  of  Peking  ;  Rev.  JohnL.  Nevins, 
D.D.,  of  Chefou  ;  Rev.  A.  P.  Happer,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  B.  C.  Henry, 
D.D.,  of  Canton  ;  Professor  John  Wortabet,  M.D.,  of  Beyrout ; 
Rev.  Jacob  Chamberlain,  D.D.,  Missionary  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  Madras;  Rev.  Z.  J.  Jones.  D.D.,  Missionary  of  the 
American  M.  E.  Church  at  Bareilly,  India-,  Rev.  K.  C.  Chatter- 
gee  and  Ram  Chandra  Bose,  both  converts  from  high  caste 
Hinduism  and  both  eminent  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  India; 
And  Rev.  E.  W.  Blyden,  D.D.,  the  accomplished  African  scholar 
of  Liberia. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     17 

education  has  left  with  no  real  faith  of  any  kind, 
but  whose  pride  of  race  and  venerable  customs  is 
raised  to  a  higher  degree  than  ever.  They  have 
learned  something  of  Christianity;  they  have  also 
studied  their  own  national  systems;  they  have  be- 
come especially  familiar  with  all  that  our  own  sceptics 
have  written  against  Christianity ;  still  further,  they 
have  added  to  their  intellectual  equipment  all  that 
Western  apologists  have  said  of  the  superiority  of  the 
Oriental  faiths.  They  are  thus  armed  at  every  point, 
and  they  are  using  our  own  English  tongue  and  all 
our  facilities  for  publication.  How  is  the  young 
missionary,  who  knows  nothing  of  their  systems  or 
the  real  points  of  comparison,  to  deal  with  such  men  ? 
It  is  very  true  that  not  all  ranks  of  Hindus  are  edu- 
cated ;  there  are  millions  who  know  nothing  of  any 
religion  beyond  the  lowest  forms  of  superstition,  and 
to  these  we  owe  the  duty  of  a  simple  and  plain  pre- 
sentation of  Christ  and  Him  crucified ;  but  in  every 
community  where  the  missionary  is  likely  to  live 
there  are  men  of  the  higher  class  just  named ;  and 
besides,  professional  critics  and  opposers  are  now  em- 
ployed to  harass  the  bazaar  preacher  with  perplex- 
ing questions,  which  are  soon  heard  from  the  lips  of 
the  common  people.  A  young  missionary  recently 
wrote  of  the  surprise  which  he  felt  when  a  low  caste 
man,  almost  without  clothing,  met  him  with  argu- 
ments from  Professor  Huxley. 

Missionary  Boards  have   sometimes   sent  out  a 

specialist,  and  in  some  sense  a  champion,  who  should 

deal  with  the  more  intelligent  classes  of  the  heathen. 

But  such  a  plan  is  fraught  with  disadvantages.     What 

2 


18     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

is  needed  is  a  thorough  preparation  in  all  mission- 
aries, and  that  involves  an  indispensable  knowledge  of 
the  forces  to  be  met.  The  power  of  the  press  is  no 
longer  a  monopoly  of  Christian  lands.  The  Arya 
Somaj,  of  India,  is  now  using  it,  both  in  the  vernac- 
ular and  in  the  English,  in  its  bitter  and  often  scur- 
rilous attacks.  One  of  its  tracts  recently  sent  to  me 
contained  an  English  epitome  of  the  arguments  of 
Thomas  Paine.  The  secular  papers  of  Japan  present 
in  almost  every  issue  some  discussion  on  the  com- 
parative merits  of  Christianity,  Buddhism,  Evolution, 
and  Theosophy,  and  many  of  the  young  native  min- 
istry who  at  first  received  the  truth  unquestioningly 
as  a  child  receives  it  from  his  mother,  are  now  call- 
ing for  men  whom  they  can  follow  as  leaders  in  their 
struggle  with  manifold  error.* 

Even  Mohammedans  are  at  last  employing  the 
press  instead  of  the  sword.  Newspapers  in  Con- 
stantinople are  exhorting  the  faithful  to  send  forth 
missionaries  to  "  fortify  Africa  against  the  whiskey 
and  gunpowder  of  Christian  commerce,  by  proclaim- 

*  The  Japan  Mailoi  September  30, 1891,  in  reviewing  the  prog- 
ress of  religious  and  philosophic  discussion  as  carried  on  by  the 
native  press  of  the  Empire,  says :  "The  Buddhist  literature  of  the 
season  shows  plainly  the  extent  to  which  the  educated  members 
of  the  (Buddhist)  priesthood  are  seeking  to  enlarge  their  grasp 
by  contact  with  Western  philosophy  and  religious  thought.  We 
happen  to  know  that  a  prominent  priest  of  the  Shinsu  sect  is 
deeply  immersed  in  Comte's  humanitariauipm.  In  Kyogaku- 
roushu  (a  native  paper)  are  published  instalments  of  Spencer's 
philosophy.  Another  paper,  the  Hauseikwai,  has  an  article  urging 
the  desirability  of  a  general  union  of  all  the  (Buddhist)  sects,  such 
as  Colonel  Olcott  brought  about  in  India  between  the  northern 
and  the  southern  Buddhists." 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     19 

ing  the  higher  ethical  principles  of  the  Koran." 
Great  institutions  of  learning  are  also  maintained 
as  the  special  propaganda  of  the  Oriental  religions. 
El  Azar,  established  at  Cairo  centuries  ago,  now  num- 
bers ten  thousand  students,  and  these  when  trained 
go  forth  to  all  Arabic  speaking  countries.*  The  San- 
skrit colleges  and  monasteries  of  Benares  number 
scarcely  less  than  four  thousand  students,  f  who  are 
being  trained  in  the  Sankhyan  or  the  Vedanta  philo- 
sophy, that  they  may  go  back  to  their  different  prov- 
inces and  maintain  with  new  vigor  the  old  faiths 
against  the  aggressions  of  Christianity.  And  in 
Kioto,  the  great  religious  centre  of  Japan,  we  find 
over  against  the  Christian  college  of  the  American 
Board  of  Missions,  a  Buddhist  university  with  a 
Japanese  graduate  of  Oxford  as  its  president.  In  a 
great  school  at  Tokio,  also,  Buddhist  teachers,  aided 
by  New  England  Unitarians,  are  maintaining  the 
superiority  of  Buddhism  over  Western  Christianity 
as  a  religion  for  Japan.  ^ 

Another  reason  why  the  missionary  should  study 
the  false  systems  is  foimd  in  the  greatly  diversified 
forms  which  these  systems  present  in  different  lands 
and  different  ages.  And  just  here  it  will  be  seen 
that  a  partial  knowledge  will  not  meet  the  demand. 
It  might  be  even  misleading.  Buddhism,  for  exam- 
ple, has  assumed  an  endless  variety  of  forms — now 

*  Leaves  from  an  Egyptian  Note-hook. 

\  Papers  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hewlett  in  the  Indian  Evangelical  Review. 

X  In  an  address  given  in  Tokio,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Knapp,  of  Boston, 
Buddhists  in  Japan  were  advised  to  build  their  religion  of  the 
future  upon  their  own  foundations,  and  not  upon  the  teachings  of 
Western  propagandists. 


20     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

appearing  as  a  system  of  the  baldest  atheism,  and 
now  presenting  an  approximate  theism.  Gautama 
was  certainly  atheistic,  and  he  virtually  denied  the 
existence  of  the  human  soul.  But  in  the  northern 
development  of  his  system,  theistic  conceptions 
sprang  up.  A  sort  of  trinity  had  appeared  by  the 
seventh  century  A.D.,  and  by  the  tenth  century  a 
supreme  and  celestial  Buddha  had  been  discovered, 
from  whom  all  other  Buddhas  were  emanations. 
To-day  there  are  at  least  twelve  Buddhist  sects  in 
Japan,  of  which  some  are  mystical,  others  pantheis- 
tic, while  two  hold  a  veritable  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  faith.  ^ 

China  has  several  types  of  Buddhism,  and  Mon- 
golia, Thibet,  Nepaul,  Ceylon,  Burmah,  and  Siam 
present  each  some  special  features  of  the  system. 
How  important  that  one  should  understand  these 
differences  in  order  to  avoid  blundering,  and  to  wisely 
adapt  his  efforts  !  In  India,  under  the  common  ge- 
neric name  of  Hinduism,  there  are  also  many  sects : 
worshippers  of  Yishnu,  worshippers  of  Siva,  wor- 
shippers of  Krishna.  There  are  Sikhs,  and  Jains, 
and  devil  worshippers ;  among  the  Dravidian  and 
other  pre- Aryan  tribes  there  are  victims  of  every 
conceivable  superstition. 

Now,  a  missionary  must  know  something  of  these 
faiths  if  he  would  fight  with  "  weapons  of  precision." 
Paul,  in  becoming  all  things  to  all  men,  knew  at 
least  the  differences  between  them.  He  preached 
the  gospel  with  a  studied  adaptation.  He  tells  us 
that  he  so  strove  as  to  win,  and  "  not  as  those  who 
*  The  Twdve  Buddhist  Sects  of  Japan,  by  Bunyiu  Nanjio,  Oxon. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     21 

beat  the  air."  How  alert  were  the  combatants  in  the 
arena  from  which  his  simile  is  borrowed!  How 
closely  each  athlete  scanned  his  man,  watched  his 
every  motion,  knew  if  possible  his  every  thought 
and  impulse !  Much  more,  in  winning  the  souls  of 
darkened  and  misguided  men,  should  we  learn  the 
inmost  workings  of  their  minds,  their  habits  of 
thought,  and  the  nature  of  the  errors  which  are  to 
be  dislodged. 

But  how  shall  the  false  systems  of  religions  be 
studied?  First,  there  should  be  a  spirit  of  entire 
candor.  Truth  is  to  be  sought  always,  and  at  any 
cost ;  but  in  this  case  there  is  everything  to  be  gained 
and  nothing  to  be  lost  by  the  Christian  teacher,  and 
he  can  well  afford  to  be  just.  Our  divine  Exemplar 
never  hesitated  to  acknowledge  that  which  was  good 
in  men  of  whatever  nationality  or  creed.  He  could 
appreciate  the  faith  of  Roman  or  Syro-Phoenician. 
He  could  see  merit  in  a  Samaritan  as  well  as  in  a 
Jew,  and  could  raise  even  a  penitent  publican  to  the 
place  of  honor.  It  was  only  the  Pharisees  who  hesi- 
tated to  admit  the  truth,  until  they  could  calculate 
the  probable  effect  of  their  admissions. 

The  very  best  experience  of  missionaries  has  been 
found  in  the  line  of  Christ's  example.  "  The  surest 
way  to  bring  a  man  to  acknowledge  his  errors,"  says 
Bishop  Bloomfield,  "is  to  give  him  full  credit  for 
whatever  he  had  learned  of  the  truth."  *  "  What 
should  we  think,"  says  a  keen  observer  of  the  work 
of  missions — "what  should  we  think  of  an  engineer 
who,  in  attempting  to  rear  a  light-house  on  a  sand- 
*  Quoted  in  Manual  of  India  Missions, 


22     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRI8TIANITT 

bar,  should  fail  to  acknowledge  as  a  godsend  any 
chance  outcropping  of  solid  rock  to  which  he  might 
fasten  his  stays  ?  "  * 

But  in  urging  the  duty  of  candor,  I  assume  that 
an  absolute  freedom  from  bias  is  impossible  on 
either  side.  It  is  sometimes  amusing  to  witness  the 
assurance  with  which  professed  agnostics  assume 
that  they,  and  they  alone,  look  upon  questions  of 
comparative  religion  with  an  unbiased  and  judicial 
mind.  They  have  no  belief,  they  say,  in  any  religion, 
and  are  therefore  entirely  without  prejudice.  But 
are  they  ?  Has  the  man  who  has  forsaken  the  faith 
of  his  fathers  and  is  deeply  sensible  of  an  antagonism 
between  him  and  the  great  majority  of  those  about 
him — has  he  no  interest  in  trying  to  substantiate  his 
position,  and  justify  his  hostility  to  -  the  popular 
faith  ?  Of  all  men  he  is  generally  the  most  prejudiced 
and  the  most  bitter.  We  freely  admit  that  we  set 
out  with  a  decided  preference  for  one  religious  sys- 
tem above  all  others,  but  we  insist  that  candor  is 
possible,  though  an  absolutely  indifferent  judgment 
is  out  of  the  question.  Paul,  who  quoted  to  the 
Athenians  their  own  poet,  was  fair-minded,  and  yet 
no  man  ever  arraigned  heathenism  so  terribly  as  he, 
and  none  was  so  intensely  interested  in  the  faith 
which  he  preached. 

Archbishop  Trench,  in  discussing  the  exaggerations 
from  which  a  careful  study  of  the  Oriental  religions 
would  doubtless  save  us,  says,  "  There  is  one  against 
which  we  are  almost  unwilling  to  say  a  word.  I 
mean  the  exaggeration  of  those  who,  in  a  deep  devo- 
*  Quoted  in  Manual  of  India  Missions, 


THE  STUDY  OF  TEE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     23 

tion  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  count 
themselves  bound,  by  their  allegiance  to  Him,  to 
take  up  a  hostile  attitude  to  everything  not  dis- 
tinctly and  avowedly  Christian,  as  though  any  other 
position  were  a  treachery  to  his  cause,  and  a  sur- 
render of  his  exclusive  right  to  the  authorship  of  all 
the  good  which  is  in  the  world.  In  this  temper  we 
may  dwell  only  on  the  guilt  and  misery  and  defile- 
ments, the  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrefying  sores 
of  the  heathen  world ;  or  if  aught  better  is  brought 
under  our  eye,  we  may  look  askant  and  suspiciously 
upon  it,  as  though  all  recognition  of  it  were  a  dis- 
paragement of  something  better.  And  so  we  may 
come  to  regard  the  fairest  deeds  of  unbaptized  men 
as  only  more  splendid  sins.  We  may  have  a  short 
but  decisive  formula  by  which  to  try  and  by  which 
to  condemn  them.  These  deeds,  we  may  say,  were 
not  of  faith,  and  therefore  they  could  not  please 
God ;  the  men  that  wrought  them  knew  not  Christ, 
and  therefore  their  work  was  worthless — hay,  straw, 
and  stubble,  to  be  utterly  burned  up  in  the  day  of 
the  trial  of  every  man's  work. 

"  Yet  there  is  indeed  a  certain  narrowness  of  view, 
out  of  which  alone  the  language  of  so  sweeping  a 
condemnation  could  proceed.  Our  allegiance  to 
Christ,  as  the  one  fountain  of  light  and  life  for  the 
world,  demands  that  we  affirm  none  to  be  good  but 
Him,  allow  no  goodness  save  that  which  has  pro- 
ceeded from  Him  ;  but  it  does  not  demand  that  we 
deny  goodness,  because  of  the  place  where  we  find  it, 
because  we  meet  it,  a  garden  tree,  in  the  wilderness. 
It  only  requires  that  we  claim  this  for  Him  who 


24     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

planted,  and  was  willing  that  it  should  grow  there ; 
whom  it  would  itself  have  gladly  owned  as  its  author, 
if,  belonging  to  a  happier  time,  it  could  have  known 
Him  by  his  name,  whom  in  part  it  knew  by  his  power. 

"We  do  not  make  much  of  a  light  of  nature 
when  we  admit  a  righteousness  in  those  to  whom  in 
the  days  of  their  flesh  the  Gospel  had  not  come. 
We  only  affirm  that  the  Word,  though  not  as  yet 
dwelling  among  us,  yet  being  the  '  light  which  light- 
eth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,'  had  also 
lighted  them.  Some  glimpses  of  his  beams  gilded 
their  countenances,  and  gave  to  these  whatever 
brightness  they  wore;  and  in  recognizing  this 
brightness  we  are  ascribing  honor  to  Him,  and  not 
to  them ;  glorifying  the  grace  of  God,  and  not  the 
virtues  of  man."  "^ 

In  marked  contrast  with  this,  and  tending  to  an 
extreme,  is  the  following,  from  the  pen  of  Bishop 
Beveridge.  It  is  quoted  by  Max  Miiller,  in  the  open- 
ing volume  of  "  The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  as  a 
model  of  candor. 

"  The  general  inclinations  which  are  naturally  im- 
planted in  my  soul  to  some  religion,  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  shift  off;  but  there  being  such  a  multi- 
plicity of  religions  in  the  world,  I  desire  now  seri- 
ously to  consider  with  myself  which  of  them  all  to 
restrain  these  my  general  inclinations  to.  And  the 
reason  of  this  my  inquiry  is  not,  that  I  am  in  the 
least  dissatisfied  with  that  religion  I  have  already 
embraced;  but  because  'tis  natural  for  all  men  to 
have  an  overbearing  opinion  and  esteem  for  that 
*  HvJsean  Lectures.  1846. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     25 

particular  religion  they  are  bom  and  bred-up  in. 
That,  therefore,  I  may  not  seem  biased  by  the  preju- 
dice of  education,  I  am  resolved  to  prove  and  exam- 
ine them  all ;  that  I  may  see  and  hold  fast  to  that 
which  is  best.  .  .  .  Indeed,  there  was  never  any 
religion  so  barbarous  and  diabolical,  but  it  was  pre- 
ferred above  all  other  religions  whatsoever  by  them 
that  did  profess  it ;  otherwise  they  would  not  have 
professed  it.  .  .  .  And  why,  say  they,  may  you 
not  be  mistaken  as  well  as  we?  Especially  when 
there  are,  at  least,  six  to  one  against  your  Christian 
religion  ;  all  of  which  think  they  serve  God  aright ; 
and  expect  happiness  thereby  as  well  as  you.  .  .  . 
And  hence  it  is  that  in  my  looking  out  for  the  truest 
religion,  being  conscious  to  myself  how  great  an  as- 
cendancy Christianity  holds  over  me  beyond  the 
rest,  as  being  that  religion  whereunto  I  was  born 
and  baptized;  that  the  supreme  authority  has  en- 
joined and  my  parents  educated  me  in ;  that  which 
everyone  I  meet  withal  highly  approves  of,  and 
which  I  myseK  havej  by  a  long-continued  profes- 
sion, made  almost  natural  to  me  ;  I  am  resolved  to 
be  more  jealous  and  suspicious  of  this  religion  than 
of  the  rest,  and  be  sure  not  to  entertain  it  any 
longer  without  being  convinced  by  solid  and  sub- 
stantial arguments  of  the  truth  and  certainty  of  it. 
That,  therefore,  I  may  make  diligent  and  impartial 
inquiry  into  all  religions  and  so  be  sure  to  find 
out  the  best,  I  shall  for  a  time  look  upon  myself 
as  one  not  at  all  interested  in  any  particular  religion 
whatsoever,  much  less  in  the  Christian  religion  ;  but 
only  as  one  who  desires,  in  general,  to  serve  and 


26     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

obey  Him  that  made  me  in  a  right  mamier,  and 
thereby  to  be  made  partaker  of  that  happiness  my 
nature  is  capable  of."  * 

Second,  in  studying  the  false  systems  it  is  im- 
portant to  distinguish  between  religion  and  ethics. 
In  the  sphere  of  ethics  the  different  faiths  of  men 
may  find  much  common  ground,  while  in  their  relig- 
ious elements  they  may  be  entirely  true  or  utterly 
false.  The  teachings  of  Confucius,  though  agnostic, 
presented  a  moral  code  which  places  the  relations  of 
the  family  and  state  on  a  very  firm  basis.  And  the 
yery  highest  precepts  of  Buddhism  belong  to  the 
period  in  which  it  was  virtually  atheistic.  Many 
great  and  noble  truths  have  been  revealed  to  man- 
kind through  the  conscience  and  the  understanding, 
and  these  truths  have  found  expression  in  the  prov- 
erbs or  ethical  maxims  of  all  races.  To  this  extent 
God  has  nowhere  left  himseK  without  witness. 
But  all  this  is  quite  apart  from  a  divinely  revealed 
religion  which  may  be  cherished  or  be  wholly  lost. 
The  golden  rule  is  found  not  only  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, but  negatively  at  least  in  the  Confucian  clas- 
sics ;  f  and  the  Shastras  of  the  Hindus  present  it  in 
both  the  positive  and  the  negative  form.  And  the 
still  higher  grace  of  doing  good  to  those  who  injure 
us,  was  proclaimed  by  Laotze,  five  hundred  years 
before  Christ  preached  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

*  Private  Thoughts  on  Religion,  Parti.,  Article  2. 

f  Confucius  not  only  taught  that  men  should  not  do  to  others 
what  they  would  not  have  done  to  them,  but  when  one  of  his  dis- 
ciples asked  him  to  name  one  word  which  should  represent  the 
whole  duty  of  man,  he  replied  ' '  Reciprocity. " 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FAL8E  BELIQI0N8     27 

The  immense  superiority  of  the  ethical  standard 
in  Christianity,  lies  in  its  harmony  and  complete- 
ness. Confucius  taught  the  active  virtues  of  life, 
Laotze  those  of  a  passive  kind ;  Christianity  incul- 
cates both.  In  heathenism  ethical  truths  exist  in 
fragments — mere  haK  truths,  like  the  broken  and 
scattered  remains  of  a  temple  once  beautiful  but  now 
destroyed.  They  hold  no  relation  to  any  high  re- 
ligious purpose,  because  they  have  no  intelligent 
relation  to  God.  Christian  ethics  begin  with  our 
relations  to  God  as  supreme,  and  they  embrace  the 
present  life  and  the  world  to  come.  The  symmetry 
of  the  divine  precept,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self," finds  no  counterpart  in  the  false  religions  of 
the  world.  Nowhere  else,  not  even  in  Buddhism,  is 
found  the  perfect  law  of  love.  The  great  secret  of 
power  in  Christianity  is  God's  unspeakable  love  to 
men  in  Christ ;  and  the  reflex  of  that  love  is  the 
highest  and  purest  ever  realized  in  human  hearts. 

Thirdly,  the  false  systems  should  be  studied  by 
the  Christian  missionary,  not  for  their  own  sakes  so 
much  as  for  an  ulterior  purpose,  and  they  should  be 
studied  in  constant  comparison  with  the  religion 
which  it  is  his  business  to  proclaim.  His  aim  is  not 
that  of  a  savant.  Let  us  not  disguise  it :  he  is 
mainly  endeavoring  to  gain  a  more  thorough  prep- 
aration for  his  own  great  work.  The  professional 
scholar  at  Oxford  or  Leipsic  might  condemn  this 
acknowledged  bias-^this  pursuit  of  truth  as  a  means 
and  not  as  an  end — but  if  he  would  be  entirely 
frank,  be  WQuld  pften  find  himself  working  in  the 


28     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

interest  of  a  linguistic  theory,  or  a  pet  hypothesis 
of  social  science.  It  was  in  this  spirit  that  Spen- 
cer and  Darwin  have  searched  the  world  for  facts  to 
support  their  systems.  * 

I  repeat,  it  is  enough  for  the  missionary  that  he 
shall  be  thoroughly  candid.  He  may  exercise  the 
burning  zeal  of  Paul  for  the  Gospel  which  he  pro- 
claims, if  he  will  also  exercise  his  clear  discrimina- 
tion, his  scrupulous  fairness,  his  courtesy,  and  his 
tact.  Let  him  not  forget  that  he  is  studying  religions 
comparatively  ;  he  should  proceed  with  the  Bible  in 
one  hand,  and  should  examine  the  true  and  the  false 
together.  Contrasts  will  appear  step  by  step  as  he 
advances,  and  the  great  truths  of  Christianity  will 
stand  out  in  brighter  radiance,  for  the  shadows  of  the 
background.  If  the  question  be  asked,  when  and 
where  shall  the  missionary  candidate  study  the  false 
systems,  I  answer  at  once ;  before  he  leaves  his  native 
land  ;  and  I  assign  three  principal  reasons.  First : 
The  study  of  a  new  and  difficult  language  should  en- 
gross his  attention  when  he  reaches  his  field.  This 
will  prove  one  of  the  most  formidable  tasks  of  his 
life,  and  it  will  demand  resolute,  concentrated,  and 
prolonged  effort.  Second  :  In  gaining  access  to  the 
people,  studying  their  ways  and  winning  their  confi- 

*  Whoever  will  read  the  Preface  of  Mr.  Spencer's  work  on  So- 
ciology will  be  surprised  at  the  means  which  have  been  used  in 
collecting  and  verifying  supposed  facts  ;  a  careful  perusal  of 
the  book  will  show  that  all  classes  of  testimony  have  been  ac- 
cepted, so  far  as  they  were  favorable.  Adventurers,  reporters, 
sailors,  and  that  upon  the  briefest  and  most  casual  observation, 
have  been  deemed  capable  of  interpreting  tlie  religious  beliefs  of 
men.     Even  Peschel  doubts  many  of  their  conclusions. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     29 

dence,  the  missionary  will  find  great  advantage  in 
having  gained  some  previous  knowledge  of  their 
habits  of  thought  and  the  intricacies  of  their  beliefs. 
Third  :  The  means  and  appliances  of  study  are  far 
greater  here  at  home  than  on  the  mission  fields.  A 
very  serious  difficulty  with  most  missionaries  is  the 
want  of  books  on  special  topics ;  they  have  no  access 
to  libraries,  and  if  one  has  imagined  that  he  can 
best  understand  the  faiths  of  the  people  by  personal 
contact  with  them,  he  will  soon  learn  with  surprise 
how  little  he  can  gain  from  them,  and  how  little  they 
themselves  know  of  their  own  systems.  Those  who 
do  know  have  learned  for  the  purpose  of  baffliag 
the  missionary  instead  of  helping  him.  The  ac- 
cumulation and  the  arrangement  of  anything  like  a 
systematic  knowledge  of  heathen  systems  has  cost 
the  combined  effort  of  many  missionaries  and  many 
Oriental  scholars  ;  and  now,  after  three  generations 
have  pursued  these  studies,  it  is  still  felt  that  very 
much  is  to  be  learned  from  literatures  yet  to  be 
translated.  Such  as  there  are,  are  best  found  in  the 
home  libraries. 

Let  us  for  a  few  moments  consider  the  question 
how  far  those  who  are  not  to  become  missionaries 
may  be  profited  by  a  study  of  false  systems.  To  a 
large  extent,  the  considerations  already  urged  will  ap- 
ply to  them  also,  but  there  are  still  others  which  are 
specially  important  to  public  teachers  here  at  home. 
Pean  Murray,  in  an  able  article  published  in  the 
"Homiletic  Keview"  of  September,  1890,  recom- 
mended to  active  and  careworn  pastors  a  continued 
study  of  the  Greek  classics,  as  calculated  to  refresh 


30     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   GHRISTIANITT 

and  invigorate  tlie  mind,  and  increase  its  capacity  for 
the  duties  of  whatever  sphere.  All  that  he  said  of  the 
Greek  may  also  be  said  of  the  Hindu  classics,  with 
the  added  consideration  that  in  the  latter  we  are 
dealing  with  the  living  issues  of  the  day.  Sir  Mo- 
nier  Williams,  in  comparing  the  two  great  Epics  of 
the  Hindus  with  those  of  Homer,  names  many  points 
of  superiority  in  the  former.^  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
no  poems  of  any  other  land  have  ever  exercised  so 
great  a  spell  over  so  many  millions  of  mankind  as 
the  Ramayana  and  the  Mahabharata,  of  India,  and 
no  other  production  is  listened  to  with  such  delight 
as  the  story  of  Eama  as  it  is  still  publicly  read  at  the 
Hindu  festivals. 

Of  philosophies,  no  system  of  India  has  ap- 
proached so  near  to  veritable  divine  revelation  as 
that  of  Plato,  but  in  variety  and  subtlety,  and  in 
their  far-reaching  influence  upon  human  life,  the 
Indian  schools,  especially  the  Vedanta,  are  scarcely 
excelled  to  this  day.  And  they  are  applied  philos- 
ophies ;  they  constitute  the  religion  of  the  people. 
Max  Miiller  has  said  truly  that  no  other  line  of 
investigation  is  so  fascinating  as  that  which  deals 
with  the  long  and  universal  struggle  of  mankind  to 
find  out  God,  and  to  solve  the  mystery  of  their  rela- 
tions to  him.  Unfortunately,  himian  history  has 
dealt  mainly  with  wars  and  intrigues,  and  the  rise 
and  fall  of  dynasties ;  but  compared  with  these  coarse 
and  superficial  elements,  how  much  more  interest- 
ing and  instructive  to  trace  in  all  races  of  men  the 
common  and  ceaseless  yearnings  after  some  solution 
♦  See  Indian  Wisdom. 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     31 

of  life's  mysteries !  One  is  stirred  with  a  deeper, 
broader  sympathy  for  mankind  when  he  witnesses 
this  universal  sense  of  dependence,  this  fear  and 
trembling  before  the  powers  of  an  unseen  world,  this 
pitiful  procession  of  unblest  millions  ever  trooping 
on  toward  the  goal  of  death  and  oblivion.  And 
from  this  standpoint,  as  from  no  other,  may  one 
measure  the  greatness  and  glory  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

To  my  mind  there  is  nothing  more  pathetic  than 
the  spectacle  of  world-wide  fetichism.  It  is  not  to 
be  contemplated  with  derision,  but  with  profoundest 
sympathy.  We  all  remember  the  pathos  of  Scott's 
picture  of  his  Highland  heroine,  with  brain  disor- 
dered by  unspeakable  grief,  beguiling  her  woes  with 
childish  ornaments  of  "  gaudy  broom  "  and  plumes 
from  the  eagle's  wing.  But  sadder  far  is  the  specta- 
cle of  millions  of  men  made  for  fellowship  with  God, 
building  their  hopes  on  the  divinity  dwelling  in  an 
amulet  of  tiger's  teeth  or  serpent's  fangs  or  curious 
shells.  And  it  ought  to  enlarge  our  natures  with  a 
Christ-like  sympathy  when  we  contemplate  those 
dark  and  desperate  faiths  which  are  but  nightmares 
of  the  soul,  which  see  in  all  the  universe  only 
malevolent  spirits  to  be  appeased,  which,  looking 
heavenward  for  a  father's  face,  see,  as  Kichter  ex- 
pressed it,  "only  a  death's  head  with  bottomless, 
empty  sockets  "  instead  of  a  loving  smile. ''^ 

*  Archbishop  Trench,  after  speaking  in  his  Hulsean  lectures  of 
the  advantages  which  we  may  gain  from  an  earnest  study  of  the 
struggles  of  thoughtful  men,  who  amid  heathen  darkness  have 
groped  after  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  of  the  gratitude 


32     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GERISTIANITT 

And  what  a  field  do  the  greater  but  equally  false 
systems  present  for  the  study  of  the  human  mind 
and  heart !  How  was  it  that  the  simple  nature  wor- 
ship of  the  Indo- Aryans  grew  into  the  vast  deposit 
of  modem  Hinduism,  and  developed  those  social 
customs  which  have  become  walls  of  adamant  ?  How 
could  Buddhism  grow  out  of  such  a  soil  and  finally 
cast  its  spell  over  so  many  peoples  ?  What  were  the 
elements  of  power  which  enabled  the  great  sage  of 
China  to  rear  a  social  and  political  fabric  which  has 
survived  for  so  many  centuries  ?  How  was  it  that 
Islam  gained  its  conquests,  and  what  is  the  secret  of 
that  dominion  which  it  still  holds  ?  These  surely 
are  questions  worthy  of  those  who  are  called  to  deal 
with  human  thought  and  human  destiny.  And  when 
by  comparison  we  find  the  grand  differentials  which 
raise  Christianity  infinitely  above  them  all,  we  shall 
have  gained  the  power  of  presenting  its  truths  more 
clearly  and  more  convincingly  to  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  men. 

There  are  some  specific  advantages  flowing  from 
the  study  of  other  religions  of  which  I  will  give 
little  more  than  an  enumeration. 

which  we  ought  to  feel  who  have  received  a  more  sure  word  of 
prophecy,  adds  in  words  of  rare  beauty  :  *'  And  perhaps  it  shall 
seem  to  us  as  if  that  star  in  the  natural  heavens  which  guided 
those  Eastern  sages  from  their  distant  home,  was  but  the  symbol 
of  many  a  star  which,  in  the  world's  mystical  night,  such  as,  be- 
ing faithfully  followed,  availed  to  lead  humble  and  devout  hearts 
from  far-off  regions  of  superstition  and  error,  till  they  knelt  be- 
side the  cradle  of  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  and  saw  all  their  weary 
wanderings  repaid  in  a  moment,  and  all  their  desires  finding  a 
perfect  fulfilment  in  Him." 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     33 

1.  It  impresses  us  with  the  universality  of  some 
more  or  less  distinct  conception  of  God.  I  am  aware 
that  from  time  to  time  explorers  imagine  that  they 
have  found  a  race  of  men  who  have  no  notion  of  God, 
but  in  almost  every  instance  subsequent  investigation 
has  found  a  religious  belief.  Such  mistakes  were 
made  concerning  the  aborigines  of  Australia,  the 
Dyaks  of  Borneo,  the  Papuans,  the  Patagonians,  and 
even  the  American  Indians.  The  unity  of  the  race 
finds  a  new  and  striking  proof  in  the  universality  of 
religion. 

2.  The  study  of  false  systems  brings  to  light  an 
almost  unanimous  testimony  for  the  existence  of  a 
vague  primeval  monotheism,  and  thus  affords  a  strong 
presumptive  corroboration  of  the  Scriptural  doctrine 
of  man's  apostasy  from  the  worship  of  the  true  God. 

3.  The  clearest  vindication  of  the  severities  of  the 
Old  Testament  Theocracy,  in  its  wars  of  extermina- 
tion against  the  Canaanites  and  Phoenicians,  is  to  be 
found  in  a  careful  study  of  the  foul  and  cruel  types 
of  heathenism  which  those  nations  carried  with  them 
wherever  their  colonies  extended.  A  religion  which 
enjoined  universal  prostitution,  and  led  thus  to  sod- 
omy and  the  burning  of  yoimg  children  in  the  fires 
of  Moloch,  far  exceeded  the  worst  heathenism  of 
Africa  or  the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  The  Phoenician 
settlements  on  the  Mediterranean  have  not  even  yet 
recovered  from  the  moral  blight  of  that  religion ;  and 
had  such  a  cultus  been  allowed  to  spread  over  all 
Europe  and  the  world,  not  even  a  second  Deluge 
could  have  cleansed  the  earth  of  its  defilement.  The 
extermination  of  the  Canaanites,  when  considered  as 

8 


34     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

a  part  of  one  great  scheme  for  establishing  in  that 
same  Palestine  a  purer  and  nobler  faith,  and  sending 
forth  thence,  not  Phoenician  corruption,  but  the  Gos- 
pel of  Peace  to  all  lands,  becomes  a  work  of  mercy  to 
the  human  race. 

4.  The  ethics  of  the  heathen  will  be  found  to  vin- 
dicate the  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  This  is  a  point 
which  should  be  more  thoroughly  understood.  It 
has  been  common  to  parade  the  high  moral  maxims 
of  heathen  systems  as  proofs  against  the  exclusive 
claims  of  Christianity.  But  when  carefully  consid- 
ered, the  lofty  ethical  truths  found  in  all  sacred 
books  and  traditions,  corroborate  the  doctrines  of 
the  Scriptures.  They  condemn  the  nations  "  who 
hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness."  They  enforce 
the  great  doctrine  that  by  their  own  consciences  all 
mankind  are  convicted  of  sin,  and  are  in  need  of  a 
vicarious  righteousness, — a  full  and  free  salvation  by 
a  divine  power.  My  own  experience  has  been,  and 
it  is  corroborated  by  that  of  many  others,  that 
very  many  truths  of  the  Gospel,  when  seen  from  the 
stand-point  of  heathenism,  stand  out  with  a  clearness 
never  seen  before. 

Many  prudential  reasons  like  those  which  we 
have  given  for  the  study  of  false  systems  by  mis- 
sionaries, pertain  also  to  those  who  remain  at  home. 
Both  are  concerned  in  the  same  cause,  and  both  en- 
counter the  same  assailments  of  our  common  faith. 
We  are  all  missionaries  in  an  important  sense :  we 
watch  the  conflict  from  afar,  but  we  are  concerned  in 
all  its  issues.  The  bulletins  of  its  battle-fields  are 
no  longer  confined  to  missionary  literature ;  they  are 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     35 

found  in  the  daily  secular  press,  and  they  are  dis- 
cussed with  favorable  or  unfavorable  comments  in 
the  monthly  magazines.  The  missionary  enterprise 
has  come  to  attract  great  attention:  it  has  many 
friends,  and  also  many  foes,  here  at  home  ;  it  is  mis- 
represented by  scoffers  at  our  doors.  The  high 
merits  of  heathen  systems,  set  forth  with  every  de- 
gree of  exaggeration,  pass  into  the  hands  of  Chris- 
tian families,  in  books  and  magazines  and  secular 
papers.  Apostles  of  infidelity  are  sent  out  to 
heathen  coimtries  to  gather  weapons  against  the 
truth.  Natives  of  various  Oriental  lands,  once 
taught  in  our  mission  schools  perhaps,  but  still 
heathen,  are  paraded  on  our  lecture  platforms,  where 
they  entertain  us  with  English  and  American  argu- 
ments in  support  of  their  heathen  systems  and 
against  Christianity.  Young  pastors,  in  the  literary 
clubs  of  their  various  communities,  are  surprised  by 
being  called  to  discuss  plausible  papers  on  Bud- 
dhism, which  some  fellow-member  has  contributed, 
and  they  are  expected  to  defend  the  truth.  Or 
some  young  parishioner  has  been  fascinated  by  a 
plausible  Theosophist,  or  has  learned  from  Robert 
Elsmere  that  there  are  other  religions  quite  as  pure 
and  sacred  as  our  own.  Or  some  chance  lecturer 
has  disturbed  the  community  with  a  discourse  on 
the  history  of  religious  myths.  And  when  some  anx- 
ious member  of  a  church  learns  that  his  religious 
instructor  has  no  help  for  him  on  such  subjects,  that 
they  lie  wholly  outside  of  his  range,  there  is  apt  to 
be  something  more  than  disappointment :  there  is  a 
loss  of  confidence. 


36     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  0HRI8TIANITT 

It  is  an  unfortimate  element  in  the  case  that  error 
is  more  welcome  in  some  of  our  professedly  neutral 
papers  than  the  truth :  an  article  designed  to  show 
that  Christianity  was  borrowed  from  Buddhism  or 
was  developed  from  fetichism  will  sometimes  be  wel- 
comed as  a  new  sensation,  while  a  reply  of  half  the 
length  may  be  rejected. 

There  is  something  ominous  in  these  facts. 
Whether  the  secular  press  (not  all  papers  are  thus 
unfair)  are  influenced  by  partisan  hatred  of  the  truth 
or  simply  by  a  reckless  regard  for  whatever  is  most 
popular,  the  facts  are  equally  portentous.  And  if  it 
be  true  that  such  publications  are  what  the  people 
most  desire,  the  outlook  for  our  country  is  dark  in- 
deed. The  saddest  consideration  is  that  the  power 
of  the  secular  press  is  so  vast  and  far  reaching. 
When  Celsus  wrote,  books  were  few.  When  Vol- 
taire, Hume,  and  Thomas  Paine  made  their  assail- 
ments  on  the  Christian  faith,  the  means  of  spreading 
the  blight  of  error  were  comparatively  few.  But  now 
the  accumulated  arguments  of  German  infidels  for 
the  last  half -century  may  be  thrown  into  a  five-cent 
Sunday  paper,  whose  issue  will  reach  a  quarter  of 
a  million  of  copies,  which  perhaps  a  million  of  men 
and  women  may  read.  These  articles  are  copied 
into  a  hundred  other  papers,  and  they  are  read  in 
the  villages  and  hamlets ;  they  are  read  on  the 
ranches  and  in  the  mining  camps  where  no  sermon 
is  ever  heard. 

It  is  perfectly  evident  that  in  an  age  like  this  we 
cannot  propagate  Christianity  under  glass.  It  must 
grow  in  the  open  field  where  the  free  winds  of  heaven 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FALSE  RELIGIONS     37 

shall  smite  and  dissipate  every  cloud  of  error  that 
may  pass  over  it,  and  where  its  roots  shall  only 
strike  the  deeper  for  the  questionings  and  conflicts 
that  may  often  befall  it.  Error  cannot  be  overcome 
either  by  ignoring  it  or  by  the  cheap  but  imbecile 
scolding  of  an  ignorant  pulpit. 

I  cannot  express  the  truth  on  this  point  more 
forcibly  than  by  quoting  the  trenchant  words  of  Pro- 
fessor Ernest  Naville,  in  his  lectures  on  "Modem 
Atheism."  After  having  admitted  that  one,  who  can 
keep  himself  far  from  the  strifes  and  struggles  of 
modem  thought,  will  find  solitude,  prayer,  and  calm 
activity,  pursued  under  the  guidance  of  conscience, 
most  conducive  to  unquestioning  faith  and  religious 
peace,  he  says  :  "  But  we  are  not  masters  of  our  own 
ways,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  present  times  im- 
pose on  us  special  duties.  The  barriers  which  sepa- 
rate the  school  and  the  world  are  everywhere  thrown 
down;  everywhere  shreds  of  philosophy,  and  very 
often  of  very  bad  philosophy,  scattered  fragments  of 
theological  science,  and  very  often  of  a  deplorable 
theological  science,  are  insinuating  themselves  into 
the  current  literature.  There  is  not  a  literary  re- 
view, there  is  scarcely  a  political  journal,  which  does 
not  speak  on  occasion,  or  without  occasion,  of  the 
problems  relating  to  our  eternal  interests.  The 
most  sacred  beliefs  are  attacked  every  day  in  the  or- 
gans of  public  opinion.  At  such  a  juncture  can  men, 
who  preserve  faith  in  their  own  souls,  remain  like 
dimib  dogs,  or  keep  themselves  shut  up  in  the  nar- 
row limits  of  the  schools?  Assuredly  not.  We 
must  descend  to  the  common  ground  and  fight  with 


38     ORIENTAL  BELIOIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

equal  weapons  the  great  battles  of  thought.  Foi 
this  purpose  it  is  necessary  to  state  questions  which 
run  the  risk  of  startling  sincerely  religious  persons. 
But  there  is  no  help  for  it  if  we  are  to  combat  the 
adyersaries  on  their  own  ground ;  and  because  it  is 
thus  only  that  we  can  prove  to  all  that  the  torrent  of 
negations  is  but  a  passing  rush  of  waters,  which,  fret 
as  they  may  in  their  channels,  shall  be  found  to  have 
left  not  so  much  as  a  trace  of  their  passage  upon  the 
Kock  of  Ages."  The  fact  that  Professor  Naville's 
lectures  were  delivered  in  Geneva  and  Lausanne,  to 
audiences  which  together  numbered  over  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  people,  affords  abundant  proof 
that  the  people  are  prepared  to  welcome  the  relief 
afforded  by  a  clear  and  really  able  discussion  of 
these  burning  questions.  In  the  ordinary  teaching 
of  the  pulpit  they  would  be  out  of  place,  but  every 
public  teacher  should  be  able  to  deal  with  them  on 
suitable  occasions. 

In  a  single  concluding  word,  the  struggle  of  truth 
and  error  has  become  world-wide.  There  are  no 
ethnic  religions  now.  There  is  Christianity  in  Cal- 
cutta, and  there  is  Buddhism  in  Boston.  The  line  of 
battle  is  the  parallel  that  belts  the  globe.  It  is  not 
a  time  for  slumber  or  for  mere  pious  denunciation. 
There  must  be  no  blundering  :  the  warfare  must  be 
waged  with  weapons  of  precision,  and  then  victory  is 
sure.  It  is  well  if  our  missionary  effort  of  a  century 
has  drawn  the  fire  of  the  enemy ;  it  is  well  if  the 
time  has  come  to  hold  up  the  truth  face  to  face  with 
error,  and  to  fight  out  and  over  again  the  conflict  of 
Elijah  and  the  Priests  of  Baal. 


LECTUEE  n. 

THE  METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  IN 
DEALING  WITH  HEATHENISM 

The  coincidences  of  our  present  conquest  of  the 
non-Christian  races  with  that  to  which  the  Apostolic 
Church  was  called  are  numerous  and  striking.  Not 
even  one  hundred  years  ago  was  the  struggle  with 
heathen  error  so  similar  to  that  of  the  early  Church. 

To  a  great  extent  the  missionary  efforts  of  the 
mediaeval  centuries  encountered  only  crude  systems, 
which  it  was  comparatively  easy  to  overcome.  The 
rude  tribes  of  Northern  Europe  were  converted  by 
the  Christianity  of  the  later  Roman  Empire,  even 
though  they  were  conquerors.  Their  gods  of  war 
and  brute  force  did  not  meet  all  the  demands  of  life. 
As  a  source  of  hope  and  comfort,  their  religion  had 
little  to  be  compared  with  the  Christian  faith,  and  as 
to  philosophy  they  had  none.  They  had  inherited 
the  simple  nature  worship  which  was  common  to  all 
branches  of  the  Aiyan  race,  and  they  had  expanded 
it  into  various  ramifications  of  polytheism ;  but  they 
had  not  fortified  it  with  subtle  speculations  like 
those  of  the  Indo- Aryans,  nor  had  their  mythologies 
become  intrenched  in  inveterate  custom,  and  the  na- 
tional pride  which  attends  an  advanced  civilization. 

At  a  later  day  Christian  missionaries  in  Britain 


40     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

found  the  Norse  religion  of  the  Saxons,  Jutes,  and 
Angles,  scarcely  holding  the  confidence  of  either 
rulers  or  subjects.  They  had  valued  their  gods 
chiefly  for  the  purposes  of  war,  and  they  had  not 
always  proved  reliable.  The  king  of  Northumbria, 
like  Clovis  of  France,  had  vowed  to  exchange  his 
deities  for  the  God  of  the  Christians  if  victory 
should  be  given  him  on  a  certain  battle-field ;  and 
when  he  had  assembled  his  thanes  to  listen  to  a  dis- 
cussion between  the  missionary  Paulinus  and  the 
priests  of  Woden  on  the  comparative  merits  of  their 
respective  faiths,  the  high  priest  frankly  admitted 
his  dissatisfaction  with  a  religion  which  he  had  found 
utterly  disappointing  and  useless ;  and  when  other 
chief  counsellors  had  given  the  same  testimony,  and 
a  unanimous  vote  had  been  taken  to  adopt  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  he  was  the  first  to  commence  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  idols.* 

The  still  earlier  missionaries  among  the  Druid 
Celts  of  Britain  and  France,  though  they  found  in 
Druidism  a  more  elaborate  faith  than  that  of  the 
Norsemen,  encountered  no  such  resistance  as  we  find 
in  the  great  religious  systems  of  our  day.  Where 
can  we  point  to  so  easy  a  conquest  as  that  of  Patrick 
in  Ireland,  or  that  of  the  Monks  of  lona  among  the 
Picts  and  Scots  ? 

The  Druids  claimed  that  they  already  had  many 
things  in  common  with  the  Christian  doctrines, f  and 
what  was  a  still  stronger  element  in  the  case,  they 

*  The  Norsemen,  Maclear. 

f  The  Druid  bard  Taliesen  says:  '*  Christ,  the  Word  from  the 
beginning,  was  from  the  beginning  our  teacher,  and  we  never 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  GHURGH  41 

made  common  cause  with  the  Christians  against  the 
wrongs  inflicted  on  both  by  pagan  Rome.  The  Ro- 
man emperors  were  not  more  determined  to  extir- 
pate the  hated  and,  as  they  thought,  dangerous  in- 
fluences of  Christianity,  than  they  were  to  destroy 
every  vestige  of  Druidism  as  their  only  hope  of  con- 
quering  the  invincible  armies  of  Boadicea.  And  thus 
the  mutual  experience  of  common  sufferings  opened 
a  wide  door  for  the  advancement  of  Christian  truth. 

The  conquests  of  Welsh  and  Irish  missionaries  in 
Burgundy,  Switzerland,  and  Germany,  encountered 
no  elaborate  book  religions,  and  no  profoimd  philos- 
ophies. They  had  to  deal  with  races  of  men  who 
were  formidable  only  with  weapons  of  warfare,  and 
who,  intent  chiefly  on  conquest  and  migration,  had 
few  institutions  and  no  written  historic  records. 
The  peaceful  sceptre  of  the  truth  was  a  new  force  in 
their  experience,  and  the  sympathetic  and  seK-deny- 
ing  labors  of  a  few  missionaries  tamed  the  fierce 
Vikings  to  whom  Britain  had  become  a  prey,  and 
whose  incursions  even  the  armies  of  Charlemagne 
could  not  resist. 

How  different  is  our  struggle  with  the  races  now 
under  the  sceptre  of  Islam,  for  example — ^inflated  as 
they  are  with  the  pride  of  wide  conquest,  and  look- 
ing contemptuously  upon  that  Christian  faith  which 
it  was  their  early  mission  to  sweep  away  as  a  form 
of  idolatry !  How  different  is  our  task  in  India, 
which  boasts  the  antiquity  of  the  noble  Sanskrit  and 

lost  His  teaching.  Christianity  was  a  new  thing  in  Asia,  but  there 
never  was  a  time  when  the  Druids  of  Britain  held  not  its  doc- 
trines."— St.  Paid  in  Britain,  p.  86. 


42     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

its  sacred  literature,  and  claims,  as  the  true  represent- 
ative of  the  Aryan  race,  to  have  given  to  western 
nations  their  philosophy,  their  religion,  and  their 
civilization!  How  much  more  difficult  is  our  en- 
counter with  Confucianism,  which  claims  to  have  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  most  stable  structure  of  social 
and  political  institutions  that  the  world  has  ever 
known,  and  which  to-day,  after  twenty-five  centuries 
of  trial,  appeals  to  the  intellectual  pride  of  all  intel- 
ligent classes  in  a  great  empire  of  four  hundred 
millions !  And  finally,  how  different  is  our  task  with 
Buddhism,  so  mystical  and  abstruse,  so  lofty  in  many 
of  its  precepts,  and  yet  so  cold  and  thin,  so  flexible 
and  easily  adapted,  and  therefore  so  varied  and  many 
sided!  The  religious  systems  with  which  we  are 
now  confronted  find  their  counterparts  only  in  the 
heathenism  with  which  the  early  Church  had  to  deal 
many  centuries  ago  ;  and  for  this  reason  the  history 
of  those  early  struggles  is  full  of  practical  instruction 
for  us  now.  How  did  the  early  Church  succeed  in 
its  great  conquest  ?  What  methods  were  adopted, 
and  with  what  measures  of  success? 

In  one  respect  there  is  a  wide  difference  in  the  two 
cases.  The  Apostles  were  attempting  to  convert  their 
conquerors.  They  belonged  to  the  vanquished  race  ; 
they  were  of  a  despised  nationality.  The  early 
fathers  also  were  subjects  of  Pagan  powers.  Inso- 
much as  the  Eoman  emperors  claimed  divine  honors, 
there  was  an  element  of  treason  in  their  propagan- 
dism.  The  terrible  persecutions  which  so  long  de- 
vastated the  early  Church  found  their  supposed 
justification  in  the  plea  of   seK-defence  against  a 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURGH  43 

system  which  threatened  to  subvert  cherished  and 
time  -  honored  institutions.  Candid  writers,  like 
Archdeacon  Farrar,  admit  that  Christianity  did 
hasten  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

But  we  find  no  conquering  powers  in  our  pathway. 
Christianity  and  Christian  civilization  have  become 
dominant  in  the  earth.  The  weakness  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  its  conquests  now  is  not  in  being  baf- 
fled and  crippled  by  tyranny  and  persecution,  but 
rather  in  the  temptation  to  arrogance  and  the  abuse 
of  superior  power,  in  the  overbearing  spirit  shown 
in  the  diplomacy  of  Christian  nations  and  the  un- 
scrupulous aggressions  of  their  commerce.  There 
is  also  a  further  contrast  in  the  fact  that  in  the  early 
days  the  advantages  of  frugality  and  simple  habits 
of  life  were  on  the  side  of  the  missionaries.  Roman 
society  especially  was  beginning  to  suffer  that  decay 
which  is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  long-contin- 
ued luxury,  while  the  Church  observed  temperance 
in  all  things  and  excelled  in  the  virtues  which  al- 
ways tend  to  moral  and  social  victory.* 

On  the  other  hand,  we  who  are  the  ambassadors  to 
the  heathen  of  to-day,  are  ourselves  exposed  to  the 
dangers  which  result  from  wealth  and  excessive  lux- 
ury. Our  grade  of  life,  our  scale  of  expenditure, 
even  the  style  in  which  our  missionaries  live,  excites 
the  amazement  of  the  frugal  heathen  to  whom  they 
preach.  And  as  for  the  Church  at  home,  it  is  hardly 
safe  for  a  Persian  or  a  Chinaman  to  see  it.  Every- 
one who  visits  this  wonderful  el  dorado  carries  back 
such  romantic  impressions  as  excite  in  others,  not  so 
*  Uhlhorn's  Conflict  of  Christianity  with  Heathenism. 


44     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

much  the  love  of  the  Gospel  as  the  love  of  mammon. 
When  the  Church  went  forth  in  comparative  pov- 
erty, and  with  an  intense  moral  earnestness,  to  preach 
righteousness,  temperance,  and  the  judgment  to 
come ;  when  those  who  were  wealthy  gave  all  to  the 
poor — like  Anthony  of  Egypt,  Jerome,  Ambrose, 
and  Francis  of  Assisi — and  in  simple  garments  bore 
the  Gospel  to  those  who  were  surfeited  with  luxu- 
ries and  pleasures,  and  were  sick  of  a  life  of  mere 
indulgence,  then  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  conquered 
heathenism  with  all  that  the  world  could  give. 
But  whether  a  Church  in  the  advanced  civilization 
of  our  land  and  time,  possessed  of  enormous  wealth, 
enjoying  every  luxury,  and  ever  anxious  to  gain  more 
and  more  of  this  present  world,  can  convert  heathen 
races  who  deem  themselves  more  frugal,  more  tem- 
perate, and  less  worldly  than  we,  is  a  problem  which 
remains  to  be  solved.  We  have  rare  facilities,  but 
we  have  great  drawbacks.  God's  grace  can  over- 
come even  our  defects,  and  He  has  promised  suc- 
cess. 

But  in  the  proud  intellectual  character  of  the  sys- 
tems encountered  respectively  by  the  ancient  and  by 
the  modem  Church,  there  are  remarkable  parallels. 
The  supercilious  pride  of  Brahminism,  or  the  lofty 
scorn  of  Mohammedanism,  is  quite  equal  to  that  self- 
sufficient  Greek  philosophy  in  whose  eyes  the  Gos- 
pel was  the  merest  foolishness.  And  the  immovable 
self  -  righteousness  of  the  Stoics-  has  its  counter- 
part in  the  Confucianism  of  the  Chinese  literati. 
A  careful  comparison  of  the  six  schools  of  Hindu 
philosophy  with  the  various  systems  of  Greece  and 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  45 

Borne,  will  fill  the  mind  with  surprise  at  the  numer- 
ous correspondences — one  might  almost  say  iden- 
tities. And  that  surprise  is  the  greater  from  the 
fact  that  no  proof  exists  that  either  has  been  bor- 
rowed from  the  other. 

The  atomic  theory  of  creation  advanced  by  Lucre- 
tius is  found  also  in  the  Nyaya  philosophy  of  the 
Hindus.  The  pessimism  of  Pliny  and  Marcus  Au- 
relius  was  much  more  elaborately  worked  out  by 
Gautama.  The  Hindus  had  their  categories  and 
their  syllogisms  as  well  as  Aristotle.  The  concep- 
tion of  a  dual  principle  in  deity  which  the  early 
Church  traced  in  all  the  religious  systems  of  Egypt, 
Phoenicia,  and  Assyria,  and  whose  influence  poisoned 
the  life  of  the  Phoenician  colonies,  and  was  so  cor- 
rupting to  the  morals  of  Greece  and  Eome,  was 
also  elaborated  by  the  Sankhya  philosophy  of  Ka- 
pila,  and  it  has  plunged  Hindu  society  into  as  deep 
a  degradation  as  could  be  found  in  Pompeii  or  Her- 
culaneum.*  The  Indian  philosophy  partook  far 
more  of  the  pantheistic  element  than  that  of  Greece. 
Plato  and  Aristotle  had  clearer  conceptions  of  the 
personality  of  the  deity  and  of  the  distinct  and  re- 
sponsible character  of  the  human  soul  than  any 
school  of  Hindu  philosophers — certainly  clearer  than 
the  Vedantists,  and  their  ethics  involved  a  stronger 
sense  of  sin. 

German  philosophy  has  borrowed  its  pantheism 
from  India  rather  than  from  Greece,  and  in  its  most 

*  The  same  dualism  of  the  male  and  the  female  principle  is 
found  in  the  Shinto  of  Japan.  See  Chamberlain's  translation  of 
the  Kojiki. 


46     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

shadowy  developments  it  has  never  transcended  the 
ancient  Vedantism  of  Vyasa. 

As  in  the  early  centuries,  so  in  our  time,  different 
systems  of  religion  have  been  commingled  and  inter- 
woven into  protean  forms  of  error  more  difficult  to 
understand  and  dislodge  than  any  one  of  the  faiths 
and  philosophies  of  which  they  were  combined.  As 
the  Alexandrian  Jews  intertwined  the  teachings  of 
Judaism  and  Platonism ;  as  Manichaeans  and  Gnos- 
tics corrupted  the  truths  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments with  ideas  borrowed  from  Persian  mysticism ; 
as  various  eclectic  systems  gathered  up  all  types  of 
thought  which  the  wide  conquests  of  the  Eoman  Em- 
pire brought  together,  and  mingled  them  with  Chris- 
tian teachings ;  so  now  the  increased,  intercommuni- 
cation, and  the  quickened  intellectual  activity  of  our 
age  have  led  to  the  fusion  of  different  systems,  an- 
cient and  modem,  in  a  negative  and  nerveless  reli- 
gion of  humanity.  We  now  have  in  the  East  not 
only  Indian,  but  Anglo-Indian,  speculations.  The 
unbelieving  Calcutta  graduate  has  Hegel  and  Spi- 
noza interwoven  with  his  Vedantism,  and  the  eclectic 
leader  of  the  Brahmo  Somaj,  while  placing  Christ  at 
the  head  of  the  prophets  and  recognizing  the  au- 
thority of  all  sacred  bibles  of  the  races,  called  on 
Christians,  Hindus,  Buddhists  and  Mohammedans  to 
unite  in  one  theistic  church  of  the  New  Dispensation 
in  India.  Not  even  the  old  Gnostics  could  present 
so  striking  an  admixture  as  that  of  the  Arya  Somaj. 
It  has  appropriated  many  of  those  Christian  ethics 
which  have  been  learned  from  a  century  of  contact 
with  missionaries  and  other  Christian  residents.    It 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  OHJJROH  47 

has  approved  the  more  humane  customs  and  reforms 
of  Christendom,  denouncing  caste,  and  the  degra- 
dation of  woman.  It  has  repudiated  the  corrupt 
rites  and  the  degrading  superstitions  of  Hinduism. 
At  the  same  time  its  hatred  of  the  Christian  faith  is 
most  bitter  and  intense. 

And  there  are  other  alliances,  not  a  few,  between 
the  East  and  the  West.  In  India  and  Japan  the 
old  Buddhism  is  compounded  with  American  Spirit- 
ualism and  with  modem  Evolution,  under  a  new  ap- 
plication of  the  ancient  name  of  Theosophy.  In 
Japan  representatives  of  advanced  Unitarianism  are 
exhorting  the  Japanese  Buddhists  to  build  the  re- 
ligion of  the  future  on  their  old  foundations,  and  to 
avoid  the  propagandists  of  western  Christianity. 

The  bland  and  easy-going  catholicity  which  pro- 
fesses so  much  in  our  day,  which  embraces  all  faiths 
and  unfaiths  in  one  sweet  emulsion  of  meaningless 
negations,  which  patronizes  the  Christ  and  His  doc- 
trines, and  applies  the  nomenclature  of  Christianity 
to  doctrines  the  very  opposite  of  its  teachings,  finds 
a  counterpart  in  the  smooth  and  vapid  compromises 
of  the  old  Gnostics.  "  Gnosticism,"  says  Uhlhom, 
"combined  Greek  philosophies,  Jewish  theology, 
and  ancient  Oriental  theosophy,  thus  forming  great 
systems  of  speculative  thought,  all  with  the  object  of 
displaying  the  world's  development.  From  a  panthe- 
istic First  Cause,  Gnosticism  traced  the  emanation 
of  a  series  of  aeons — beings  of  Light.  The  source 
of  evil  was  supposed  to  be  matter,  which  in  this 
material  world  holds  light  in  captivity.  To  liberate 
the  light  and  thus  redeem  the  world,  Christ  came, 


48     ORIENTAL  BELIQIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

and  thus  Christianity  was  added  as  the  crowning 
and  victorious  element  in  this  many-sided  system  of 
speculation.  But  Christ  was  regarded  not  so  much 
as  a  Saviour  of  individual  souls  as  an  emancipator 
of  a  disordered  kosmos,  and  the  system  which  seemed 
to  accord  great  honor  to  Christianity  threatened  to 
destroy  its  life  and  power."  So,  according  to  some 
of  our  Modem  Systems,  men  are  to  find  their  future 
salvation  in  the  grander  future  of  the  race.* 

Not  only  do  we  encounter  mixtures  of  truth  and 
error,  but  we  witness  similar  attempts  to  prove  that 
whatever  is  best  in  Christianity  was  borrowed  from 
heathenism.  Porphyry  and  others  maintained  that 
Pythagoras  and  Theosebius  had  anticipated  many  of 
the  attributes  and  deeds  of  Christ,  and  Philostratus 
was  prompted  by  the  wife  of  Severus  to  write  a  his- 
tory of  Appolonius  of  Tyana  which  should  match 
the  life  of  Christ.  And  in  precisely  the  same  way 
it  has  been  variously  claimed  in  our  time  that  the 
story  of  Christ's  birth,  childhood,  and  ministry  were 
borrowed  from  Buddha  and  from  Krishna,  and  that 
the  whole  conception  of  his  vicarious  suffering  for 
the  good  of  men  is  a  clever  imitation  of  Prometheus 
Bound.  Now,  in  the  earlier  conflict  it  was  important 
to  know  the  facts  on  both  sides  in  order  to  meet 
these  allegations  of  Porphyry,  Marinus,  and  others, 
and  it  is  equally  important  to  understand  the  pre- 
cise ground  on  which  similar  charges  are  made  with 

*  The  late  George  Eliot  has  given  expression  to  this  grim  sol- 
ace, and  Mr.  John  Fiske,  in  his  Destiny  of  Man,  claims  that  the 
goal  of  all  life,  from  the  first  development  of  the  primordial  cell, 
is  the  perfected  future  man. 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  OHUBGH  49 

equal  assurance  now.*  The  very  same  old  battles 
are  to  be  fought  over  again,  both  with  philosophy 
and  with  legend. 

And  it  is  very  evident  that,  with  so  many  points 
of  similarity  between  the  early  struggle  of  Chris- 
tianity with  heathenism  and  that  of  our  own  time, 
it  is  quite  worth  our  labor  to  inquire  what  were 
the  general  methods  then  pursued.  Then  victory 
>crowned  the  efforts  of  the  Church.  That  which  hu- 
manly speaking  seemed  impossible,  was  actually  ac- 
complished. From  our  finite  standpoint,  no  more 
preposterous  command  was  ever  given  than  that 
which  Christ  gave  to  his  little  company  of  disciples 
gathered  in  the  mountains  of  Galilee,  or  that  last 
word  before  his  ascension  on  Mt.  Olivet,  in  which 
He  placed  under  their  responsible  stewardship,  not 
only  Jerusalem,  but  all  Judea  and  Samaria,  and 
the  "  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth."  The  disciples 
were  without  learning  or  social  influence,  or  political 
power.  They  had  no  wealth  and  few  facilities,  and 
so  far  as  they  knew  there  were  no  open  doors.  They 
were  hated  by  their  Jewish  countrymen,  ridiculed  by 
the  ubiquitous  and  cultured  Greeks,  and  frowned 
upon  by  the  conquering  powers  of  Eome.  How 
then  did  they  succeed  ?  How  was  it  that  in  three 
or  four  centuries  they  had  virtually   emptied  the 

*  Voltaire  found  great  delight  in  the  so-called  Ezour  Veda,  a 
work  which  claimed  to  be  an  ancient  Veda  containing  the  essen- 
tial truths  of  the  Bible.  The  distinguished  French  infidel  was 
humbled,  however,  when  it  turned  out  that  the  book  was  the 
pious  fraud  of  a  Jesuit  missionary  who  has  hoped  thus  to  win 
the  Hindus  to  Christianity. 

4 


50     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Eoman  Pantheon  of  its  heathen  deities,  and  had 
gained  the  sceptre  of  the  empire  and  the  world  ? 

It  is  easy  to  misapprehend  the  forces  which  won 
the  victory.  The  disciples  first  chosen  to  found  the 
Church  were  fishermen,  but  that  affords  no  warrant 
for  the  belief  that  only  untutored  men  were  em- 
ployed in  the  early  Church,  or  for  the  inference  that 
the  Salvation  Army  are  to  gain  the  conquest  now. 
They  were  inspired ;  these  are  not ;  and  a  few  only 
were  chosen,  with  the  very  aim  of  setting  at  naught 
the  intolerant  wisdom  of  the  Pharisees.  But  when 
the  Gospel  was  to  be  borne  to  heathen  races,  to  the 
great  nations  whose  arrogance  was  proportionate  to 
their  learning  and  their  power,  a  very  different  man 
was  selected.  Saul  of  Tarsus  had  almost  every 
needed  qualification  seen  from  a  human  point  of 
view.  Standing,  as  he  must,  between  the  stiff  big- 
otry of  Judaism  and  the  subtleties  of  Greek  philos- 
ophy, he  was  fortunately  familiar  with  both.  He 
was  a  man  of  rare  courtesy,  and  yet  of  matchless 
courage.  Whether  addressing  a  Jewish  governor 
or  the  assembled  philosophers  and  counsellors  of 
Athens,  he  evinced  an  unfailing  tact.  He  knew  how 
to  conciliate  even  a  common  mob  of  heathen  idola- 
tors  and  when  to  defy  a  high  priest,  or  plead  the 
immunities  of  his  Eoman  citizenship  before  a  Eo- 
man proconsul. 

In  tracing  the  methods  of  the  early  Church  in 
dealing  with  heathenism,  we  begin,  therefore,  with 
Paul ;  for  although  he  was  differentiated  from  all 
modem  parallels  by  the  fact  that  he  was  inspired 
and  endowed  with  miraculous  power,  yet  that  does 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHUBGH  51 

not  invalidate  the  force  of  those  general  principles  of 
action  which  he  illustrated.  He  was  the  first  and 
greatest  of  all  missionaries,  and  through  all  time  it 
will  be  safe  and  profitable  to  study  his  characteris- 
tics and  his  methods.  He  showed  the  value  of 
thorough  training  in  his  own  faith,  and  of  a  full  un- 
derstanding of  all  the  errors  he  was  to  contend  with. 
He  could  reason  with  Jews  out  of  their  own  Scrip- 
tures, or  substantiate  his  position  with  Greeks  by 
citing  their  own  poets.  He  was  certainly  uncom- 
promising in  maintaining  the  sovereignty  of  the  one 
God,  Jehovah,  but  he  was  not  afraid  to  admit  that 
in  their  blind  way  the  heathen  were  also  groping 
after  the  same  supreme  Father  of  all.  The  un- 
known God  at  Athens  he  accepted  as  an  adumbra- 
tion of  Him  whom  he  proclaimed,  and  every  candid 
reader  must  admit  that  in  quoting  the  words  of 
Aj-atus,  which  represent  Zeus  as  the  supreme  creator 
whose  offspring  we  are,  he  conveys  the  impression 
of  a  real  resemblance,  if  not  a  partial  and  obscured 
identity. 

The  essential  principle  here  is  that  Paul  frankly 
acknowledged  whatever  glimpses  of  truth  he  found  in 
heathen  systems,  and  made  free  use  of  them  in 
presenting  the  fuller  and  clearer  knowledge  revealed 
in  the  Gospel.  No  man  ever  presented  a  more  terri- 
ble arraignment  of  heathenism  than  that  which  he 
makes  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, and  yet,  with  marvellous  discrimination  he 
proceeds,  in  the  second  chapter,  to  show  how  much 
of  truth  God  has  imparted  to  the  understandings 
and  the  consciences  of  all  men.     And  he  seems  to 


62     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

imply  the  Holy  Spirit's  regenerative  work  through 
Christ's  atonement,  when  he  maintains  that  whoever 
shall,  "by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing,  seek 
glory  and  immortality,"  to  him  shall  "  eternal  life " 
be  given;  but  "tribulation  and  anguish  upon  every 
soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil,  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also 
to  the  Gentile."  Peter  was  not  prepared  to  be  a 
missionary  till  he  had  been  divested  of  his  Jewish 
narrowness  by  witnessing  the  power  of  grace  in  the 
Roman  centurion  at  Cesarea.  That  widened  out  his 
horizon  immensely.  He  saw  that  God  in  his  ulti- 
mate plan  was  no  respecter  of  persons  or  of  races. 

There  has  been  great  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  the  annual  worship  of  the  supreme  God  of 
Heaven  in  the  great  imperial  temple  at  Peking  is  in 
any  degree  a  relic  of  the  worship  of  the  true  God 
once  revealed  to  mankind.  Such  Chinese  scholars  as 
Martin  and  Legge  and  Douglass  think  that  it  is ; 
others  deny  it.  Some  men  raise  a  question  whether 
the  Allah  of  the  Mohammedan  faith  is  identical  with 
the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament.  Sales,  the  pro- 
foundest  expositor  of  Islam,  considers  him  the  same. 
Moslems  themselves  have  no  doubt  of  it :  the  intent 
of  the  Koran  is  that  and  nothing  else ;  Old  Testament 
teachings  are  interwoven  with  almost  every  sura  of 
its  pages.  I  think  that  Paul  would  have  conceded 
this  point  at  once,  and  would  the  more  successfully 
have  urged  the  claims  of  Jesus,  whom  the  Koran 
presents  as  the  only  sinless  prophet. ,  Of  course  Mo- 
hammedans do  not  recognize  the  Triune  God  as  we 
now  apprehend  Him,  from  the  New  Testament  stand- 
point; neither  did  ancient  believers  of  Israel  fully 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  53 

conceive  of  God  as  He  has  since  been  more  fully  re- 
vealed in  the  person  and  the  sacrifice  of  his  Son — 
Jesus  Christ. 

Both  the  teachings  and  the  example  of  Paul  seem 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  conceptions  of  God,  some- 
times clear  and  sometimes  dim,  may  exist  among 
heathen  nations ;  and  many  of  the  great  Christian 
fathers  evidently  took  the  same  view.  They  admitted 
that  Plato's  noble  teachings  were  calculated  to  draw 
the  soul  toward  God,  though  they  revealed  no  real 
access  to  Him  such  as  is  found  in  Christ.  Arch- 
bishop Trench,  in  his  Hulsean  lectures  on  "  Christ 
the  Desire  of  the  Nations,"  dwells  approvingly  upon 
Augustine's  well-known  statement,  that  he  had  been 
turned  from  vice  to  an  inspiring  conception  of  God 
by  reading  the  "  Hortensius  "  of  Cicero.  Augustine's 
own  reference  to  the  fact  is  found  in  the  fourth  book 
of  his  "Confessions,"  where  he  says:  "In  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  study  I  fell  upon  a  certain  book  of 
Cicero  whose  speech  almost  all  admire — not  so  his 
heart.  This  book  contains  an  exhortation  to  philos- 
ophy, and  is  called  "  Hortensius."  But  this  book  al- 
tered my  affections  and  turned  my  prayers  to  Thy- 
seK,  O  Lord,  and  made  me  have  other  purposes  and 
desires.  Every  vain  hope  at  once  became  worth- 
less to  me,  and  I  longed  with  an  incredible  burning 
desire  for  an  immortality  of  wisdom,  and  began  now 
to  arise  that  I  might  return  to  Thee.  For  not  to 
sharpen  my  tongue  did  I  employ  that  book  :  nor  did 
it  infuse  into  me  its  style,  but  its  matter." 

The  "  Hortensius  "  of  Cicero  has  not  survived  till 
our  time,  and  we  know  not  what  it  contained ;  but 


54     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

we  cannot  fail  to  notice  this  testimony  of  a  mature 
and  eminent  saint  to  the  spiritual  benefit  which  he 
had  received  at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  from  reading 
the  works  of  a  heathen  philosopher.  And  a  most 
interesting  proof  is  here  furnished  for  the  freedom 
with  which  the  Spirit  of  God  works  upon  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  the  great  variety  of  means  and 
agencies  which  He  employs, — and  that  beyond  the 
pale  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  even  beyond  the 
actual  knowledge  of  the  historic  Christ.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  whether  the  regeneration  of 
Augustine  occurred  just  then,  when  he  says  in  such 
strong  language,  that  this  book  altered  his  affections 
and  turned  his  prayers  unto  God,  and  made  him 
"  long  with  an  indescribable  burning  desire  for  an 
immortality  of  wisdom."  All  men  are  saved,  if  at 
all,  by  the  blood  of  Christ  through  the  renewing  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  what  was  the  position  of  such 
men  as  Augustine  and  Cornelius  of  Cesarea  before 
they  fully  and  clearly  saw  Jesus  as  the  actual  Mes- 
siah, and  as  the  personal  representative  of  that 
Grace  of  God  in  which  they  had  already  reposed  a 
general  faith,  is  at  least  an  interesting  question. 

Not  less  positive  is  the  acknowledgment  which 
Augustine  makes  of  the  benefits  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  Plato.  And  he  mentions  many  others, 
as  Virgininus,  Lactantius,  Hilary,  and  Cyprian,  who, 
like  himseK,  having  once  been  heathen  and  students 
of  heathen  philosophy,  had,  as  Jie  expresses  it, 
"spoiled  the  Egyptians,  bringing  away  with  them 
rich  treasures  from  the  land  of  bondage,  that  they 
might  adorn  therewith  the  true  tabernacle  of  the 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHVROH  55 

Christian  faith."  Augustine  seems  to  have  been  fond 
of  repeating  both  this  argument  and  this  his  favorite 
illustration.  In  his  "  Doctrine  of  Christ "  he  expands 
it  more  fully  than  in  his  "  Confessions."  He  says : 
"  Whatever  those  called  philosophers,  and  especially 
the  Platonists,  may  have  said  conformable  to  our 
faith,  is  not  only  not  to  be  dreaded,  but  is  to  be 
claimed  from  them  as  unlawful  possessors,  to  our  use. 
For,  as  the  Egyptians  not  only  had  idols  and  heavy 
burdens  which  the  people  of  Israel  were  to  abhor 
and  avoid,  but  also  vessels  and  ornaments  of  gold 
and  silver  and  apparel  which  that  people  at  its  de- 
parture from  Egypt  privily  assumed  for  a  better 
use,  not  on  its  own  authority  but  at  the  command  of 
God,  the  very  Egyptians  unwittingly  furnishing  the 
things  which  themselves  used  not  well ;  so  all  the 
teaching  of  the  Gentiles  not  only  hath  feigned  and 
superstitious  devices,  and  heavy  burdens  of  a  useless 
toil,  which  we  severally,  as  under  the  leading  of 
Christ  we  go  forth  out  of  the  fellowship  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, ought  to  abhor  and  avoid,  but  it  also  containeth 
liberal  arts,  fitter  for  the  service  of  truth,  and  some 
nost  useful  moral  precepts  ;  as  also  there  are  found 
among  them  some  truths  concerning  the  worship  of 
the  One  God  Himself,  as  it  were  their  gold  and  sil- 
ver which  they  did  not  themselves  form,  but  drew 
from  certain  veins  of  Divine  Providence  running 
throughout,  and  which  they  perversely  and  wrong- 
fully abuse  to  the  service  of  demons.  These,  the 
Christian,  when  he  severs  himself  from  their  wretched 
fellowship,  ought  to  take  from  them  for  the  right  use 
of  preaching  of  the  Gospel.     For  what  else  have 


56     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

many  excellent  members  of  our  faith  done  ?  See  we 
not  how  richly  laden  with  gold  and  silver  and  ap- 
parel that  most  persuasive  teacher  and  most  blessed 
martyr,  Cyprian,  departed  out  of  Egypt?  Or  Lac- 
tantius,  or  Victorinus,  Optatus,  Hilary,  not  to  speak 
of  the  living,  and  Greeks  innumerable  ?  And  this, 
Moses  himself,  that  most  faithful  servant  of  God, 
first  did,  of  whom  it  is  written,  that  *  he  was  learned 
in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians.'  " 

Let  us  for  a  moment  pause  and  see  of  what  these 
treasures  of  Egypt  consisted,  and  especially  what 
Plato  taught  concerning  God.  Like  Socrates,  he 
ridiculed  the  absurd  but  popular  notion  that  the 
gods  could  be  full  of  human  imperfections,  could 
make  war  upon  each  other,  could  engage  in  intrigues, 
and  be  guilty  of  base  passions.  And  he  earnestly 
maintained  that  it  was  demoralizing  to  children  and 
youth  to  hold  up  such  beings  as  objects  of  worship. 
Such  was  his  condemnation  of  what  he  considered 
false  gods.  He  was  equally  opposed  to  the  idea  that 
there  is  no  God.  "  All  things,"  he  says,  "  are  from 
God,  and  not  from  some  spontaneous  and  unintelli- 
gent cause."  "  Now,  that  which  is  created,"  he  adds, 
"  must  of  necessity  be  created  by  some  cause — but 
how  can  we  find  out  the  Father  and  maker  of  all 
this  universe  ?  If  the  world  indeed  be  fair,  and  the 
artificer  good,  then  He  must  have  looked  to  that 
which  is  external — for  the  world  is  the  fairest  of 
creatures,  as  He  is  the  best  of  causes." 

Plato's  representation  of  the  mercy  of  God,  of  his 
providential  care,  of  his  unmixed  goodness,  of  his 
eternal  beauty  and  holiness — are  well-nigh  up  to  the 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  57 

New  Testament  standard.  So  is  also  his  doctrine 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  The  fatal  deficiency- 
is  that  he  does  not  knoio.  He  has  received  no 
divine  revelation.  "  We  will  wait,"  he  said  in  another 
passage,  "  for  one,  be  it  a  god  or  a  god-inspired  man, 
to  teach  us  our  religious  duties,  and  as  Athene  in 
Homer  says  to  Diomede,  to  take  away  the  darkness 
from  our  eyes."  And  in  still  another  place  he  adds : 
"  We  must  lay  hold  of  the  best  human  opinion  in 
order  that,  borne  by  it  as  on  a  raft,  we  may  sail  over 
the  dangerous  sea  of  life,  unless  we  can  find  a  stronger 
boat,  or  some  word  of  God  which  will  more  surely 
and  safely  carry  us" ^ 

There  is  a  deep  pathos  in  the  question  which  I 
have  just  quoted,  "  How  can  we  find  out  the  Father 
and  maker  of  all  this  universe?  "  And  in  the  last 
sentence  quoted,  Plato  seems  to  have  felt  his  way  to 
the  very  threshold  of  the  revelation  of  Christ.f 

*  Quoted  by  Ulilhorn  in  The  Conflict  of  Christianity  with  Heath- 
enism, p.  70.  He  also  quotes  Seneca  as  saying:  *'0h,  if  one 
only  might  have  a  guide  to  truth  I  " 

f  Plato  showed  by  his  writings  and  his  whole  life  that  he  was  a 
true  seeker  after  the  knowledge  of  God,  whom  he  identified 
with  the  highest  good.  Though  he  believed  in  an  eflBcient 
creatorship,  he  held  that  matter  is  eternal.  Ideas  are  also  eternal, 
but  the  world  is  generated.  He  was  not  a  Pantheist,  as  he  clear- 
ly placed  God  outside  of,  or  above,  the  universe.  He  regarded 
the  soul  of  man  as  possessed  of  reason,  moral  sensibility,  and  appe- 
tite. 

On  the  doctrine  of  future  immortality  Plato  was  most  emphatic. 

He  also  believed  that  the  soul  in  a  previous  state  had  been 
pure  and  sinless,  but  had  fallen.  He  taught  that  recovery  from 
this  fallen  condition  is  to  be  accomplished  by  the  pursuit  of  phi- 
losophy and  the  practice  of  virtue  (not  as  merit  but  as  discipline), 
by  contemplating  the  highest  ideal  which  is  the  character  of  God, 


58     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Augustine  shows  a  discrimination  on  this  subject 
too  important  to  be  overlooked,  when  he  declares 
that  while  the  noble  philosophy  of  the  Platonists 
turned  his  thoughts  away  from  his  low  gratifications 
to  the  contemplation  of  an  infinite  God,  it  left  him 
helpless.  He  was  profited  both  by  what  philos- 
ophy taught  him  and  by  what  it  could  not  teach  : 
it  created  wants  which  it  could  not  satisfy.  In 
short,  he  was  prepared  by  its  very  deficiencies  to  see 
in  stronger  contrast  the  all-satisfying  fulness  of  the 
Gospel  of  Eternal  Life.  Plato  could  tell  him  noth- 
ing of  any  real  plan  of  redemption,  and  he  confesses 

and  by  thinking  of  eternity.  Plato  regarded  suffering  as  disci- 
plinary when  properly  improved.  True  philosophy  may  raise 
the  soul  above  the  fear  of  death.  This  was  proved  by  Socrates. 
Both  Socrates  and  Plato  seemed  to  believe  in  a  good  demon  (spirit) 
whose  voice  was  a  salutary  and  beneficent  guide.  As  to  eschatol- 
ogy,  Plato  looked  forward  to  a  heaven  where  the  virtuous  soul 
shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  pure 
delights. 

Aristotle's  idea  of  God  was  scarcely  less  exalted  than  that  of 
Plato.  He  expressed  it  thus  :  '*  The  principle  of  life  is  in  God  ; 
for  energy  of  mind  constitutes  life,  and  God  is  this  energy. 
He,  the  first  mover,  imparts  motion  and  pursues  the  work  of 
creation  as  something  that  is  loved.  His  course  of  life  must  be 
similar  to  what  is  most  excellent  in  our  own  short  career.  But 
he  exists  forever  in  this  excellence,  whereas  this  is  impossible  for 
us.  His  pleasure  consists  in  the  exercise  of  his  essential  energy, 
and  on  this  account  vigilance,  wakefulness,  and  perception  are 
most  agreeable  to  him.  Again,  the  more  we  examine  God's  nature 
the  more  wonderful  does  it  appear  to  us.  He  is  an  eternal  and 
most  excellent  being.  He  is  indivisible,  <Ievoid  of  parts,  and 
having  no  magnitude,  for  God  imparts  motion  through  infinite 
time,  and  nothing  finite,  as  magnitude  is,  can  have  an  infinite 
capacity.  He  is  a  being  devoid  of  passions  and  unalterable." 
— Quoted  in  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  125. 


METHODS  OF  THE  EABLY  GHURGH  69 

with  tender  pathos  that  he  found  no  Bevealer,  no 
divine  sacrifice  for  sin,  no  uplifted  Cross,  no  gift  of 
the  transforming  Spirit,  no  invitation  to  the  weary, 
no  light  of  the  Resurrection.^  Now,  just  here  is  the 
exact  truth ;  and  Augustine  has  conferred  a  lasting 
benefit  upon  the  Christian  Church  by  this  grand  les- 
son of  just  discrimination.  He  and  other  Christian 
fathers  knew  where  to  draw  the  lines  carefully  and 
wisely  with  respect  to  heathen  errors. 

We  often  have  occasion  to  complain  of  the  sharp- 
ness of  the  controversies  of  the  early  Church,  but  it 
could  scarcely  be  otherwise  in  an  age  like  that.  It 
was  a  period  of  transitions  and  of  rude  convulsions. 
The  foundations  of  the  great  deep  of  human  error 
were  being  broken  up.     It  was  no  time  for  flabby, 

*  *^  Those  pages  present  not  the  image  of  this  piety,  the  tears 
of  confession,  Thy  sacrifice,  a  troubled  spirit,  a  broken  and  a 
contrite  heart,  the  salvation  of  the  people,  the  Bridal  city,  the 
earnest  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  cup  of  our  redemption.  No  man 
sings  there,  *  Shall  not  my  soul  be  submitted  unto  God  ?  for  of 
Him  cometh  my  salvation,  for  He  is  my  God  and  my  salvation, 
my  guardian,  I  shall  no  more  be  grieved.'  No  one  there  hears 
Him  call  'Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor.'" — Confessions ^"Sk^ 
vii.,  xxi.  "  But  having  then  read  those  books  of  the  Platonists, 
and  thence  being  taught  to  search  for  incorporeal  truth,  I  saw 
Thy  invisible  things,  understood  by  the  things  which  are  made  ; 
and  though  cast  back,  I  perceived  what  that  was  which,  through 
the  darkness  of  my  mind,  I  was  hindered  from  contemplating, 
being  assured  '  that  Thou  wert  and  wert  infinite,  and  yet  not 
diffused  in  space,  finite  or  infinite,  and  that  Thou  truly  art  who 
art  the  same  ever,  in  no  part  nor  motion  varying ;  and  that  all 
other  things  are  from  Thee.  ...  Of  these  things  I  was  as- 
sured, yet  too  insecure  to  enjoy  Thee.  I  prated  as  one  skilled, 
but  I  had  not  sought  Thy  way  in  Christ  our  Saviour ;  I  had  proved 
to  be  not  skilled  but  kiUecl," — Confessions,  Bk.  vii.,  xx. 


60     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHBISTIANITT 

jelly-fish  convictions.  The  training  which  the  great 
leaders  had  received  in  philosophy  and  rhetoric  had 
made  them  keen  dialectics.  They  had  something  of 
Paul's  abhorrence  of  heathen  abominations,  for  they 
saw  them  on  every  hand.  They  saw  also  the  spe- 
cious admixtures  of  Gnosticism,  and  they  met  them 
squarely.  Tertullian's  controversy  with  Marcion, 
Augustine's  sharp  issue  with  Pelasgius,  Ambrose's 
bold  and  imcompromising  resistance  to  Arianism, 
Origen's  able  reply  to  Celsus,  all  show  that  the  great 
leaders  of  the  Church  were  not  men  of  weak  opinions. 
The  discriminating  concessions  which  they  made, 
therefore,  were  not  bom  of  an  easy-going  indifferent- 
ism  and  the  soft  and  nerveless  charity  that  regards 
all  religions  alike.  They  found  a  medium  between 
this  pretentious  extreme  and  the  opposite  evil  of  ig- 
norant and  narrow  prejudgment ;  and  nothing  is  more 
needed  in  the  missionary  work  of  our  day  than  that 
intelligent  and  well-poised  wisdom  which  considers 
all  the  facts  and  then  draws  just  distinctions  ;  which 
will  not  compensate  for  conscious  ignorance  with 
cheap  misrepresentation  or  wholesale  denunciation. 

1.  Now,  first  of  all,  in  considering  the  methods  of 
the  early  Church  and  its  secret  of  power  in  overcom- 
ing the  errors  of  heathenism,  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  victory  was  mainly  due  to  the  mor- 
al earnestness  which  characterized  that  period.  In 
this  category  we  must  place  the  influence  which 
sprang  from  the  martyrdom  of  thousands  who  sur- 
rendered life  rather  than  relinquish  their  faith.  That 
this,  martyr  spirit  did  not  always  produce  a  true 
symmetry  of  Christian  character  cannot  be  denied. 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  GHUBGH  61 

The  tide  of  fanaticism  swept  in,  sometimes,  with  the 
current  of  true  religious  zeal,  and  inconsistencies 
and  blemishes  marred  even  the  saintliest  seK-sacri- 
fice  ;  but  there  was  no  resisting  the  mighty  logic  of 
the  spirit  of  martyrdom  as  a  whole.  The  high  and 
the  low,  the  wise  and  the  unlettered,  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  the  old  and  the  young,  strong  men  and  deli- 
cate women,  surrendered  themselves  to  the  most 
cruel  tortures  for  the  love  of  Christ.  This  spectacle, 
while  it  may  have  served  only  to  enrage  a  Nero  and 
urge  him  on  to  even  more  satanic  cruelty,  could  not 
be  wholly  lost  upon  the  more  thoughtful  Marcus 
Aurelius  and  others  like  him.  It  was  impossible  to 
resist  the  moral  force  of  so  calm  and  resolute  a  sur- 
render unto  torture  and  death.  Moreover,  an  age 
which  produced  such  relinquishment  of  earthly  pos- 
sessions as  was  shown  by  men  like  Anthony  and  Am- 
brose, who  were  ready  to  lay  down  the  emoluments  of 
high  political  position  and  distribute  their  large  for- 
tunes for  the  relief  of  the  poor ;  and  such  women  as 
Paula  and  others  of  high  position,  who  were  ready 
to  sacrifice  all  for  Christ  and  retire  into  seclusion 
and  voluntary  poverty — an  age  which  could  produce 
such  characters  and  could  show  their  steady  perse- 
verance imto  the  end,  could  not  fail  to  be  an  age  of 
resistless  moral  power ;  and  it  would  be  safe  to  say 
that  no  heathen  system  could  long  stand  against  the 
sustained  and  persistent  force  of  such  influences. 
Were  the  Christian  Church  of  to-day  moved  by  even 
a  tithe  of  that  high  self-renunciation,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  braving  the  fires  of  martyrdom,  if  it  possessed 
in  even  partial  degree  the  same  sacrifice  of  luxury 


62     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

and  ease,  and  the  same  consecration  of  effort  and  of 
influence,  the  conquest  of  benighted  nations  would 
be  easy  and  rapid. 

The  frugality  of  the  early  Christians,  the  simplic- 
ity of  life  which  the  great  body  of  the  Church  ob- 
served, and  to  which  even  wealthy  converts  more 
or  less  conformed,  was  also,  doubtless,  a  strong  fac- 
tor in  the  great  problem  of  winning  the  heathen 
to  Christ.  Probably  in  no  age  could  Christian  sim- 
plicity find  stronger  contrasts  than  were  presented 
by  the  luxury  and  extravagance,  the  imbridled  indul- 
gence and  profligacy,  which  characterized  the  later 
periods  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Universal  conquest 
of  surrounding  nations  had  brought  imtold  wealth. 
The  Government  had  hastened  the  process  of  de- 
cay by  lavish  distribution  to  the  people  of  those  re- 
sources which  obviated  the  necessity  of  unremitting 
toil.  It  had  devoted  large  expenditures  to  popular 
amusements,  and  demagogues  had  squandered  the 
public  fimds  for  the  purpose  of  securing  their  own 
preferment.  Over  against  the  moral  earnestness  of 
the  persecuted  Christian  Church,  there  was  in  the 
nation  itself  and  the  heathenism  which  belonged  to 
it,  an  utter  want  of  character  or  conviction.  These 
conditions  of  the  conquest,  as  I  have  already  indi- 
cated, do  not  find  an  exact  counterpart  with  us  now. 
There  is  more  of  refined  Christian  culture  than  ex- 
isted in  the  early  Church ;  probably  there  is  also 
more  of  organized  Christian  effort.  In  many  points 
the  comparison  is  in  our  favor,  but  earnestness,  and 
the  spiritual  power  which  attends  it,  are  on  a  lower 
grade.     There  is  no  escape  from  the  conviction  that 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  GHURGH  63 

just  here  lies  the  reason  why  the  Christian  Church, 
with  all  her  numbers,  her  vast  material  resources, 
and  her  unlimited  opportunities,  cannot  achieve  a 
greater  success. 

2.  But,  on  the  intellectual  side,  and  as  relating  to 
the  methods  of  direct  effort,  there  are  many  points 
in  which  imitation  of  the  early  example  is  entire- 
ly practicable.  And  first,  the  wise  discrimination 
which  was  exercised  by  Augustine  and  other  Chris- 
tian leaders  is  entirely  practicable  now.  There  has 
prevailed  in  our  time  an  indiscriminate  carelessness 
in  the  use  of  terms  in  dealing  with  this  subject. 
The  strong  language  which  the  Old  Testament  em- 
ployed against  the  abominations  of  Baalism,  we 
have  seemed  to  regard  as  having  equal  force  against 
the  ethics  of  Confucius  or  Gautama.  "  Heathenism  " 
is  the  one  brand  which  we  have  put  upon  all  the 
non-Christian  religions.  I  wish  it  were  possible  to 
exchange  the  term  for  a  better.*  Baalism  was  un- 
doubtedly the  most  besotted,  cruel,  and  diabolical 
religion  that  has  ever  existed  on  the  earth.  When 
we  carefully  study  it  we  are  not  surprised  at  the 
strong  language  of  denunciation  which  the  Old  Tes- 
tament employs.  But  as  I  have  already  shown,  we 
find  in  the  New  Testament  a  different  spirit  exer- 
cised toward  the  types  of  error  which  our  Saviour 

*  We  may  judge  of  the  bearing  of  the  common  term  heathen  as 
applied  to  non-Christian  nations,  when  we  consider  that  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  characterized  all  foreigners  as  "barbarians," 
that  Mohammedans  call  all  Christians  "infidels,"  and  the  Chinese 
greet  them  as  "foreign  devils."  The  missionary  enterprise  as  a 
work  of  conciliation  should  illustrate  a  broader  spirit. 


64     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

and  his  disciples  were  called  to  meet.  There  is 
only  gentleness  in  our  Lord's  dealings  with  those 
who  were  without  the  Jewish  Church.  His  strong- 
est denunciations  were  reserved  for  hypocrites  who 
knew  the  truth  and  obeyed  it  not.  He  declared 
that  the  men  of  Nineveh  would  rise  up  in  judg- 
ment against  those  who  rejected  the  clear  message 
of  God's  own  Son.  The  man  who  goes  forth  to  the 
great  mission  fields  with  the  feeling  that  it  is  his 
province  to  assail  as  strongly  as  possible  the  deeply- 
rooted  convictions  of  men,  instead  of  winning  them 
to  a  more  excellent  way,  is  worse  than  one  who 
beats  the  air ;  he  is  doing  positive  harm ;  he  is 
trifling  with  precious  souls.  He  does  not  illustrate 
the  spirit  of  Christ. 

The  wisest  of  the  early  Fathers  sometimes  dif- 
fered widely  from  each  other  in  their  methods ; 
some  were  denunciatory,  others  were  even  too  ready 
to  excuse.  The  great  African  controversialist,  Ter- 
tullian,  was  unsparing  in  his  anathemas,  not  only 
against  heathen  customs,  which  were  vile  indeed, 
but  against  the  teachings  of  the  noblest  philosophy. 
He  had  witnessed  the  former ;  he  had  not  candidly 
studied  the  latter.  With  a  blind  zeal,  which  has  too 
often  been  witnessed  in  the  history  of  good  causes, 
he  denounced  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  even  Socrates 
with  a  violence  which  marred  the  character  of  so 
great  a  man.  On  the  other  hand,  Justin  Martyr 
and  Clement  of  Alexandria  were  perhaps  excessive- 
ly broad.  Of  these  noted  Fathers,  Archdeacon 
Farrar  says :  "  They  were  philosophers  in  spirit ; 
they  could  enforce  respect  by  their  learning  and 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  65 

their  large,  rounded  sympathy,  where  rhetorical  de- 
nunciation and  ecclesiastical  anathemas  would  only 
have  been  listened  to  with  a  frown  of  anger,  or  a 
look  of  disdain.  Pagan  youths  would  have  listened 
to  Clement  when  he  spoke  of  Plato  as  *  the  truly  no- 
ble and  haK-inspired,'  while  they  would  have  looked 
on  Tertullian  as  an  ignorant  railer,  who  could  say 
nothing  better  of  Socrates  than  to  call  him  the  *  At- 
tic buffoon,'  and  of  Aristotle  than  to  characterize 
him  as  the  *  miserable  Aristotle.'  " 

Tatian  and  Hermes  also  looked  upon  Greek  phi- 
losophy as  an  invention  of  the  devil.  Irenaeus  was 
more  discriminating.  He  opposed  the  broad  and 
lax  charity  of  the  Alexandrines,  but  he  read  the 
Greek  philosophy,  and  when  called  to  the  bishopric 
of  Lyons,  he  set  himseK  to  the  study  of  the  Gallic 
Druidism,  believing  that  a  special  adaptation  would 
be  called  for  in  that  remote  mission  field.*  Basil 
was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  Greek  philosophy  as 
giving  a  broader  character  to  Christian  education. 

There  were  among  the  Fathers  many  different 
types  of  men,  some  philosophically  inclined,  others 
better  able  to  use  practical  arguments.  Some  were 
more  successful  in  appealing  to  the  signs  of  the 
times,  the  clear  evidences  of  that  corruption  and  de- 
cay to  which  heathenism  had  led.  They  pointed  to 
the  degradation  of  women,  the  prevalence  of  vice, 
the  inordinate  indulgence  in  pleasures,  the  love 
of  excitement,  the  cruel  frenzy  of  the  gladiatorial 
shows,  the  unrest  and  pessimism  and  despair  of  all 
society.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  appeals  of 
*  The  Celts,  Maclear. 
6 


QQ     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

this  kind  is  found  in  a  letter  of  Cyprian  to  his  friend 
Donatus.  "  He  bids  him  seat  himself  in  fancy  on 
some  mountain  top  and  gaze  down  upon  what  he 
has  abandoned  (for  he  is  a  Christian),  on  the  roads 
blocked  by  brigands,  the  sea  beset  by  pirates,  the 
camps  desolated  by  the  horrors  of  many  wars,  on 
the  world  reeking  with  bloodshed,  and  the  guilt 
which,  in  proportion  to  its  magnitude,  was  extolled 
as  a  glory.  Then,  if  he  would  turn  his  gaze  to  the 
cities,  he  would  behold  a  sight  more  gloomy  than 
all  solitudes.  In  the  gladiatorial  games  men  were 
fattened  for  mutual  slaughter,  and  publicly  murder- 
ed to  delight  the  mob.  Even  innocent  men  were 
urged  to  fight  in  public  with  wild  beasts,  while  their 
mothers  and  sisters  paid  large  sums  to  witness  the 
spectacle.  In  the  theatres  parricide  and  infanticide 
were  dealt  with  before  mixed  audiences,  and  all 
pollution  and  crimes  were  made  to  claim  reverence 
because  presented  imder  the  guise  of  religious  my- 
thology. In  the  homes  was  equal  corruption ;  in 
the  forum  bribery  and  intrigue  ran  rife ;  justice  was 
subverted,  and  innocence  was  condemned  to  prison, 
torture,  and  death.  Luxury  destroyed  character,  and 
wealth  became  an  idol  and  a  curse."  *  Arguments 
of  this  kind  were  ready  enough  to  hand  whenever 
Christian  teachers  were  disposed  to  use  them,  and 
their  descriptions  found  a  real  corroboration  in  soci- 
ety as  it  actually  appeared  on  every  hand.  None 
could  question  the  counts  in  the  indictment. 

3.  "While  the  Christian  Fathers  and  the  mission- 
aries differed  in  their  estimates  of  heathenism,  and 
*  Lives  of  the  FatherSf  Farrar. 


METHODS  OP  fHJ^  MARLY  CHJIBOB         67 

in  their  methods  of  dealing  with  it,  one  thing  was 
recognized  by  all  whom  we  designate  as  the  great 
leaders,  namely,  the  imperative  necessity  of  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  it.  They  understood  both  the 
low  superstition  of  the  masses  and  the  loftier  teach- 
ing of  the  philosophers.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
had  the  same  estimate  of  the  incomparable  Gospel 
of  Christ  that  we  have  ;  they  realized  that  it  was  the 
wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation 
as  clearly  as  the  best  of  us,  but  they  did  not  claim 
that  it  was  to  be  preached  blindly  and  without  adap- 
tation. The  verities  of  the  New  Testament  teach- 
ings, the  transforming  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  necessity  for  a  new  birth  and  for  the  preternat- 
ural influence  of  grace,  both  in  regeneration  and  in 
sanctification,  were  as  strongly  maintained  as  they 
have  ever  been  in  any  age  of  the  Church ;  but  the 
Fathers  were  careful  to  know  whether  they  were 
casting  the  good  seed  upon  stony  places,  or  into 
good  ground  where  it  would  spring  up  and  bear  fruit. 
The  liberal  education  of  that  day  was,  in  fact,  an 
education  along  the  old  lines  of  heathen  philosophy, 
poetry,  history,  and  rhetoric ;  and  a  broad  training 
was  valued  as  highly  as  it  has  been  in  any  subsequent 
period.  It  was  thoroughly  imderstood  that  disci- 
plined intellect,  other  things  being  equal,  may  ex- 
pect a  degree  of  influence  which  can  never  fall  to  the 
lot  of  ignorance,  however  sanctified  its  spirit.  There 
has  never  been  a  stronger  type  of  men  than  the 
Christian  Fathers.  They  were  learned  men,  for 
the  age  in  which  they  lived,  and  their  learning 
had  special  adaptations  to  the  work  assigned  them. 


68     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  0HRI8TIANITT 

Many  of  them,  like  Cyprian,  Clement,  Hilary,  Mar- 
tin of  Tours,  had  been  bom  and  educated  in  hea- 
thenism; while  others,  like  Basil,  Gregory,  Origen, 
Athanasius,  Jerome,  and  Augustine,  though  bom 
under  Gospel  influences,  studied  heathen  philosophy 
and  poetry  at  the  instance  of  their  Christian  parents. 
4.  Some  of  the  leaders  familiarized  themselves 
with  the  speculations  of  the  day,  not  merely  for  the 
sake  of  a  wider  range  of  knowledge,  but  that  they 
might  the  more  successfully  refute  the  assailants  of 
the  faith,  many  of  whom  were  men  of  great  power. 
They  were  fully  aware  that  it  behooved  them  to  know 
their  ground,  for  their  opponents  studied  the  points 
of  comparison  carefully.  The  infidel  Celsus  studied 
Christianity  and  its  relation  to  the  Old  Testament 
histories  and  prophecies,  and  he  armed  himself  with 
equal  assiduity  with  all  the  choicest  weapons  drawn 
from  Greek  philosophy.  How  was  such  a  man  to 
be  met  ?  His  able  attack  on  Christianity  remained 
fifty  years  unanswered.  To  reply  adequately  was 
not  an  easy  task.  Doubtless  there  were  many,  then 
as  now,  who  thought  that  the  most  comfortable  way 
of  dealing  with  such  things  was  to  let  them  alone. 
But  a  wiser  policy  prevailed.  Origen  was  re- 
quested to  prepare  an  answer,  and,  although  such 
work  was  not  congenial  to  him,  he  did  so  because  he 
felt  that  the  cause  of  the  truth  demanded  it.  His 
reply  outlived  the  attack  which  it  was  designed  to 
meet,  and  in  all  subsequent  ages  it  has  been  a  bul- 
wark of  defence.* 

*  **  Christianity,"  says  Max  Miiller,  "enjoyed  no  privileges  and 
claimed  no  immunities  when  it  boldly  confronted  and  confounded 


METHODS  OF  THE  EABLT  CHURCH  69 

Origen  was  not  of  a  pugnacious  spirit — it  was  well 
that  he  was  not — ^but  with  wide  and  thorough  prepa- 
ration he  summoned  all  his  energies  to  meet  the  foe. 
Archdeacon  Farrar  says  of  him,  that  he  had  been 
trained  in  the  whole  circle  of  science.  He  could 
argue  with  the  pupils  of  Plato,  or  those  of  Zeno,  on 
equal  terms,  and  he  deems  it  fortunate  that  one  who 
was  called,  as  he  was,  to  be  a  teacher  at  Alexandria, 
where  men  of  all  nations  and  all  creeds  met,  had  a 
cosmopolitan  training  and  a  cosmopolitan  spirit. 

No  less  resolute  was  the  effort  of  Ambrose  in  re- 
sisting the  errors  of  Arianism,  and  he  also  adapted 
himself  to  the  work  in  hand.  He  had  not  been 
afraid  of  Platonism.  On  the  other  hand,  we  are  told 
that  Plato,  next  to  his  Bible,  constituted  a  part  of 
his  daily  reading,  and  that,  too,  in  the  period  of  his 
ripest  Christian  experience,  and  when  he  carried  his 
studies  and  his  prayers  far  into  the  hours  of  the 
night.  But  in  dealing  with  Arianism  he  needed  a 
special  understanding  of  all  its  intricacies,  and  when 
among  its  advocates  and  supporters  he  encountered 
a  powerful  empress  as  well  as  her  ablest  advocates, 
he  had  need  of  all  the  powers  within  him — that  power 
of  moral  earnestness  which  had  led  him  to  give  all 
his  property  to  the  poor — that  power    of    strong 

the  most  ancient  and  the  most  powerful  religions  of  the  world. 
Even  at  present  it  craves  no  mercy  and  it  receives  no  mercy  from 
those  whom  our  missionaries  have  to  meet  face  to  face  in  every 
part  of  the  world  ;  and  unless  our  religion  has  ceased  to  be  what 
it  was,  its  defenders  should  not  shrink  from  this  new  trial  of  its 
strength,  but  should  encourrge  rather  than  depreciate  the  study 
of  comparative  theology." — Science  of  Religion,  p.  22. 


70     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

faith,  whicli  prepared  him,  if  need  be,  to  lay  down 
his  life — the  power  of  a  disciplined  intellect,  and  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  whole  issue. 

6.  The  early  Fathers  not  only  studied  the  heathen 
philosophies  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  but  they  learned 
to  employ  them,  and  their  successors  continued  to 
employ  them,  even  to  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the 
period  of  the  Reformation.  As  an  intellectual 
framework,  under  which  truth  should  be  presented 
in  logical  order,  it  became  a  strong  resource  of  the 
early  Christian  teachers.  Let  me  refer  you  on  this 
point  to  the  clear  statements  of  Professor  Shedd.* 
He  has  well  said  that  "  when  Christianity  was  re- 
vealed in  its  last  and  beautiful  form  by  the  in- 
carnation of  the  Eternal  Word,  it  found  the  human 
mind  already  occupied  by  human  philosophy.  Edu- 
cated men  were  Platonists,  or  Stoics,  or  Epicureans. 
During  the  age  of  Apologetics,  which  extended  from 
the  end  of  the  apostolic  age  to  the  death  of  Origen, 
the  Church  was  called  to  grapple  with  these  systems, 
to  know  as  far  as  possible  what  they  contained,  and 
to  discriminately  treat  their  contents,  rejecting  some 
things,  utilizing  others."  "  We  shall  see,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  that  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Cicero  exerted 
more  influence  than  all  other  philosophic  minds 
imited  upon  the  greatest  of  Christian  Fathers,  upon 
the  greatest  of  the  School  men,  and  upon  the  great- 
est of  the  theologians  of  the  Reformation,  Calvin 
and  Melancthon ;  and  if  we  look  at  European  philos- 
ophy, as  it  has  been  unfolded  in  England,  Germany, 
and  France,  we  can  perceive  that  all  the  modem 
*  History  of  Christian  Tfiedogyy  Vol.  I.,  p.  53. 


METHODS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  71 

philosophic  schools  have  discussed  the  principles  of 
human  reason  in  very  much  the  same  manner  in 
which  Plato  and  Aristotle  discussed  them  twenty- 
two  centuries  ago." 

I  need  hardly  say,  in  closing,  that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  borrow  from  the  heathen  systems  of  to-day 
as  extensively  as  the  Fathers  did  from  the  systems  of 
Greece  and  Eome,  and  it  would  be  discordant  with 
good  taste  to  illustrate  our  sermons  with  quotations 
from  the  Hindu  poets  as  lavishly  as  good  Jeremy 
Taylor  graced  his  discourses  with  gems  from  the 
poets  of  Greece.  But  I  think  that  we  may  so  far 
heed  the  wise  examples  furnished  by  Church  history 
as  to  face  the  false  systems  of  our  time  with  a  can- 
did and  discriminating  spirit,  and  by  a  more  ade- 
quate knowledge  to  disenchant  the  bugbears  with 
which  their  apologists  would  alarm  the  Church. 

We  are  entering  upon  the  broadest  and  most  mo- 
mentous struggle  with  heathen  error  that  the  world 
has  ever  witnessed.  Again,  in  this  later  age,  philos- 
ophy and  multiform  speculation  are  becoming  the 
handmaids  of  Hindu  pantheism  and  Buddhist  ^oc- 
cultism, as  well  as  of  Christian  truth.  The  resources 
of  the  East  and  the  West  are  combined  and  subsidized 
by  the  enemy  as  well  as  by  the  Church.  As  in  old 
Rome  and  Alexandria,  so  now  in  London  and  Calcutta 
all  currents  of  human  thought  flow  together,  and 
truth  is  in  full  grapple  with  error.  It  is  no  time  to 
be  idle  or  to  take  refuge  in  pious  ignorance,  much 
less  to  fear  heathen  systems  as  so  many  haunted 
houses  which  superstitious  people  dare  not  enter — 
as  if  the  Gospel  were  not  as  potent  a  talisman  now 


72     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

as  it  was  ages  ago.  Let  us  fearlessly  enter  these 
abodes  of  darkness,  throw  open  the  shutters,  and  let 
in  the  light  of  day,  and  the  hobgoblins  will  flee. 
Let  us  explore  every  dark  recess,  winnow  out  the 
miasma  and  the  mildew  with  the  pure  air  of  heaven, 
and  the  Sun  of  Eighteousness  shall  fill  the  world. 


LECTUEE  rn. 

THE   SUCCESSIVE   DEVELOPMENTS   OF   HINDUISM 

The  religious  systems  of  India,  like  its  flora, 
display  luxuriant  variety  and  confusion.  Hinduism 
is  only  another  banyan-tree  whose  branches  have 
become  trunks,  and  whose  trunks  have  produced 
new  branches,  until  the  whole  has  become  an  in- 
tellectual and  moral  jungle  of  vast  extent.  The 
original  stock  was  a  monotheistic  nature  worship, 
which  the  Hindu  ancestors  held  in  common  with 
other  branches  of  the  Aryan  family  when  dwelling 
together  on  the  high  table-lands  of  Central  Asia, 
or,  as  some  are  now  claiming,  in  Eastern  Eussia. 
Wherever  may  have  been  that  historic  "  cradle  "  in 
which  the  infancy  of  our  race  was  passed,  it  seems 
certain,  from  similarities  of  language,  that  this  Aryan 
family  once  dwelt  together,  and  had  a  common  wor- 
ship, and  called  the  supreme  deity  by  a  common 
name.  It  was  a  worship  of  the  sky,  and  at  length  of 
various  powers  of  nature,  Surya,  the  sim  :  Agni,  fire  : 
Indra,  rain,  etc.  It  is  maintained  by  many  authors, 
in  India  as  well  as  in  Europe,  that  these  designa- 
tions were  only  applied  as  names  of  one  and  the 
same  potential  deity.  This  is  the  ground  held  by 
the  various  branches  of  the  modem  Somaj  of  India. 
Yet  we  must  not  suppose  that  the  monotheism  of 


74     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

the  early  Aryans  was  all  that  we  understand  by 
that  term ;  it  is  enough  that  the  power  addressed 
was  one  and  personal.  Even  henotheism,  the  last 
name  which  Professor  Max  Miiller  applies  to  the 
eaxly  Aryan  faith,  denotes  oneness  in  this  sense. 
The  process  of  differentiation  and  corruption  ad- 
vanced more  rapidly  among  the  Indo-Aryans  than 
in  the  Iranian  branch  of  the  same  race,  and  in  all 
lands  changes  were  wrought  to  some  extent  by  dif- 
ferences of  climate  and  by  environment.*  The  Norse- 
men, for  example,  struggling  with  the  wilder  and 
sterner  forces  of  storm  and  wintry  tempest,  would 
naturally  differ  in  custom,  and  finally  in  faith,  from 
the  gentle  Hindu  under  his  Indian  sky ;  yet  there 
were  common  elements  traceable  in  the  earliest  tra- 
ditions of  these  races,  and  the  fact  that  religions  are 
not  wholly  dependent  upon  local  conditions  is  shown 
by  both  Christianity  and  Buddhism,  which  have 
flourished  most  conspicuously  and  permanently  in 
lands  where  they  were  not  indigenous. 

"  In  the  Vedas,"  says  Sir  Monier  Williams,  "  unity 
in  the  conception  of  deity  soon  diverged  into  various 
ramifications.  Only  a  few  of  the  hymns  appear  to 
contain  the  simple  conception  of  one  divine,  seK-ex- 
istent,  omnipresent  Being,  and  even  in  these,  the  idea 
of  one  God,  present  in  all  nature,  is  somewhat  nebu- 
lous and  undefined."  One  of  the  earliest  deifications 
that  we  can  trace  was  that  of  Varuna,  who  represented 
the  overhanging  sky.     The  hymns  addressed  to  Va- 

*  The  fact  that  environment  has  to  a  certain  extent  affected  the 
religions  of  mankind  is  entirely  overworked,  when  men  like 
Buckle  make  it  formative  and  controlling. 


8U0GES8IVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     75 

runa  are  not  only  the  earliest,  but  they  are  the  lofti- 
est and  most  spiritual  in  their  aspirations.  They 
find  in  him  an  element  of  holiness  before  which  sin 
is  an  offence ;  and  in  some  vague  sense  he  is  the 
father  of  all  things,  like  the  Zeus  whom  Paul  recog- 
nized in  the  poetry  of  Greece. 

But,  as  abeady  stated,  this  vague  conception  of  God 
as  one,  was  already  in  a  transition  toward  separate 
impressions  of  the  different  powers  of  nature.  If 
the  idea  of  God  was  without  any  very  clear  person- 
ality and  more  or  less  obscure,  it  is  not  strange  that 
it  should  come  to  be  thus  specialized  as  men  thought 
of  objects  having  a  manifestly  benign  influence — as 
the  life-quickening  sun  or  the  reviving  rain.  It  is 
not  strange  that,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  true 
God,  they  should  have  been  filled  with  awe  when 
gazing  upon  the  dark  vault  of  night,  and  should  have 
rendered  adoration  to  the  moon  and  her  countless 
retinue  of  stars.  If  there  must  be  idolatry,  let  it  be 
that  sublime  nature  worship  of  the  early  Aryans, 
though  even  that  was  sure  to  degenerate  into  baser 
forms.  One  might  suppose  that  the  worship  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  would  remain  the  purest  and  no- 
blest ;  and  yet  the  sun-worship  of  the  Assyrians  and 
the  Phoenicians  became  unspeakably  vile  in  its  sen- 
suousness,  and  finally  the  most  wicked  and  abomi- 
nable of  all  heathen  systems.  India  in  her  darkest 
days  never  sank  so  low,  and  when  her  degradation 
came  it  was  through  other  conceptions  than  those  of 
nature  worship. 

In  the  early  Vedic  hymns  are  to  be  found  many 
sublime  passages  which  seem  to  suggest  traces  of 


76      ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

those  common  traditions  concerning  the  creation — 
the  Fall  of  man  and  the  Deluge,  which  we  believe  to 
have  been  the  earliest  religious  heritage  of  mankind. 
They  contrast  strongly  with  the  later  and  degrading 
cosmogonies  of  degenerate  heathen  systems,  and 
especially  with  the  grotesque  fancies  of  the  subse- 
quent Hindu  mythology.  In  the  Xth  Mandala  of 
the  Eig  Veda  we  find  the  following  account  of  pri- 
meval chaos,  which  reminds  one  of  the  Mosaic  Gene- 
sis: 

**  In  the  beginning  there  was  neither  aught  nor  naught, 
There  was  neither  sky  nor  atmosphere  above. 
What  then  enshrouded  all  the  teeming  universe  ? 
In  the  receptacle  of  what  was  it  contained  ? 
"Was  it  enveloped  in  the  gulph  profound  of  water  ? 
There  was  then  neither  death  nor  immortality. 
There  was  then  neither  day  nor  night,  nor  light  nor  dark- 
ness. 
Only  the  Existing  One  breathed  calmly  self-contained, 
Naught  else  but  him  there  was,  naught  else  above,  beyond  ; 
Then  first  came  darkness  hid  in  darkness,  gloom  in  gloom, 
Next  all  was  water,  chaos  indiscreet 
In  which  the  One  lay  void,  shrouded  in  nothingness, 
Then  turning  inward  by  self -developed  force 
Of  inner  fervor  and  intense  abstraction  grew." 

In  the  early  Vedic  period  many  of  the  corruptions 
of  later  times  were  unknown.  There  was  no  distinct 
doctrine  of  caste,  no  transmigration,  no  mist  of  pan- 
theism, no  idol-worship,  no  widow-burning,  and  no 
authorized  infanticide.  The  ab6minable  tyranny 
(which  was  subsequently  imposed  upon  woman  was 
•unknown;  the  low  superstitions  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes  had  not  been  adopted  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand, 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     77 

had  philosophy  and  speculation  taken  possession  of 
the  Hindu  mind.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trimurti  and 
the  incarnations  had  not  appeared.* 

The  faith  of  the  Hindus  in  that  early  period  may 
be  called  Aryanism,  or  Vedism.  It  bore  sway  from 
the  Aryan  migration,  somewhere  about  one  thousand 
five  hundred,  or  two  thousand,  years  before  Christ, 
to  about  eight  hundred  years  before  Christ. f  By 
that  time  the  priestly  class  had  gained  great  power 
over  all  other  ranks.  They  had  begun  to  work  over 
the  Yedas  to  suit  their  own  purposes,  selecting  from 
them  such  portions  as  could  be  framed  into  an  elab- 
orate ritual — ^known  as  the  Brahmanas.  The  period 
during  which  they  continued  this  ritualistic  develop- 
ment is  known  as  the  Brahmana  period.  This  ex- 
tended from  about  eight  hundred  to  five  hundred 
B.c.J  These,  however,  are  only  the  approximate 
estimates  of  modern  scholarship  :  such  a  thing  as 
ancient  history  is  unknown  to  the  Hindu  race. 
This  Brahmana  period  was  marked  by  the  intense 
and  overbearing  sacerdotalism  of  the  Brahmans,  and 
by  an  extreme  development  of  the  doctrine  of  caste. 
Never  was  priestly  tyranny  carried  to  greater  length 
than  by  these  lordly  Brahmans  of  India.  One  of 
the  chief  abuses  of  their  system  was  their  depravation 
of  sacrifice. 

The  earliest  conception  of  sacrifice  represented  in 
the  Veda^  is  that  of  a  vicarious  offering  of  Parusha,  a 

*  Instead  of  the  later  and  universal  pessimism,  there  was  in  the 
Vedio  religion  a  simple  but  joyous  sense  of  life, 
f  Hinduism^  p.  31. 
X  Chips  from  a  German  Workshop  j  vol.  i.,  p.  15. 


78      ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

Divine  being.  Very  obscure  references  to  this  are 
<  found  in  the  oldest  of  the  four  Vedas,  dating  prob- 
ably not  later  than  1200  B.C.  It  is  brought  out  still 
''  more  clearly  in  a  Brahmana  which  was  probably 
composed  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.  It  is  there  said 
that  the  "  Lord  of  creatures  offered  himself  a  sacri- 
fice for  the  Gods."  Principal  Fairbaim  finds  Vedic 
authority  for  the  idea  that  the  creation  of  the  world 
was  accomplished  by  the  self-sacrifice  of  deity ;  and 
Menu  ascribes  the  creation  of  mankind  to  the  aus- 
terities of  the  gods.  Sir  Monier  Williams,  the  late 
Professor  Banergea,  and  many  others,  have  regarded 
these  references  to  a  Divine  sacrifice  for  the  benefit 
of  gods  and  men  as  dim  traces  of  a  revelation  once 
made  to  mankind  of  a  promised  atonement  for  the 
sins  of  the  world.* 

But  so  far  as  the  actual  observances  of  the  early 
Hindus  were  concerned,  they  seem  to  have  made 
their  offerings  rather  in  the  spirit  of  Cain  than  in 
the  faith  of  Abel.  They  simply  fed  the  gods  with 
their  gifts,  and  regaled  them  with  soma  juice,  poured 
forth  in  libations ;  the  savor  of  melted  butter  also 
was  supposed  to  be  specially  grateful.  Still  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  piacular  idea  of  sacrifice 
was  never  wholly  lost,  but  that  the  Hindus,  in  com- 
mon with  aU  other  races,  found  occasion — especially 
when  great  calamities  befell  them — to  appease  the 
gods  with  the  blood  of  sacrifice.  In  the  early  days 
human  sacrifices  were  offered,  and  occasionally  at 
least  down  to  a  late  period.  ■(■    It  was  a  convenient 

*  Aryan  Witness^  p.  204 ;  also  Hinduism,  p.  36. 
f  ma.,  p.  37, 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     79 

policy  of  the  priesthood,  however,  to  hypothecate 
the  claim  for  a  human  victim  by  accepting  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  goodly  number  of  horses  or  cows. 
A  famous  tradition  is  given,  in  the  Aitareya  Brah- 
mana,  of  a  prince*  who  had  been  doomed  to  sacrifice 
by  a  vow  of  his  father,  but  who  bought  as  a  substi-. 
tute  the  son  of  a  holy  Brahman — paying  the  price  of 
a  hundred  cows.  When  none  could  be  found  to 
bind  the  lad  on  the  altar,  the  pious  father  offered  to 
perform  the  task  for  another  hundred  cows.  Then 
there  was  no  one  found  to  slay  the  victim,  and  the 
father  offered  for  still  another  hundred  to  do  eveii 
that.  As  the  victim  was  of  high  caste  the  gods  in- 
terposed, and  the  Brahman  was  still  the  possessor  of 
a  son  plus  the  cattle.  The  incident  will  illustrate 
the  greed  of  the  priesthood  and  the  depravation  of 
sacrifice.  It  had  become  a  system  of  bargaining  and 
extortion.  The  sacrifices  fed  the  priesthood  more 
substantially  than  the  gods.  There  was  great  ad- 
vantage in  starting  with  the  human  victim  as  the 
unit  of  value,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  substitution 
of  animals  became  immensely  profitable.  The  peo- 
ple were  taught  that  it  was  possible,  if  one  were  rich 
enough  in  victims,  even  to  bankrupt  heaven.  Even 
demons  by  the  value  of  their  offerings  might  de- 
mand the  sceptre  of  Indra.f 

Hand  in  hand  with  this  growth  of  the  sacrificial 
system  was  the  development  of  caste ;  the  former 

*  A  son  of  Hariscandra.     Hinduism,  p.  37. 

f  This  is  in  strong  contrast  with  the  Old  Testament  precepts, 
which  everywhere  had  greater  respect  to  the  heart  of  the  offerer 
than  to  the  gifts. 


80     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  OHRISTIANITT 

was  done  away  by  the  subsequent  protest  of  Budd- 
hism and  the  philosophic  schools ;  but  the  latter  has 
remained  through  all  the  stages  of  Hindu  history.* 
Such  was  Bralimanism.  Its  thraldom  has  never 
been  equalled.  The  land  was  deluged  with  the  blood 
of  slain  beasts.  All  industries  were  paralyzed  with 
discouragement.  Social  aspiration  was  blighted, 
patriotism  and  national  spirit  were  weakened,  and 
India  was  prepared  for  those  disastrous  invasions 
which  made  her  the  prey  of  all  northern  races. 

It  was  in  protest  against  these  evils  that  Gautama 
and  many  able  philosophers  arose  about  500  B.C.  Al- 
ready the  intellectual  classes  had  matched  the  Brah- 
mans  by  drawing  upon  Yedic  authority  for  their 
philosophy.     As  the  Brahmans  had  produced  a  rit- 

*  The  Brahmans  had  found  certain  grades  of  population  marked 
by  color  lines,  shaded  off  from  the  negroid  aborigines  to  the  Dra- 
vidians,  and  from  them  to  the  more  recent  and  nobler  Aryans, 
and  they  were  prompt  also  to  seize  upon  a  mere  poetic  and  fan- 
ciful expression  found  in  the  Rig  Veda,  which  seemed  to  give 
countenance  to  their  fourfold  caste  distinction  by  representing 
one  class  as  having  sprung  from  the  head  of  Brahma,  another 
from  the  shoulders,  the  third  from  his  thighs,  and  a  fourth 
from  his  feet.  Altogether  they  founded  a  social  system  which 
has  been  the  wonder  of  the  ages,  and  which  has  given  to  the 
Brahmans  the  prestige  of  celestial  descent.  The  Kshatreyeh  or 
soldier  caste  stands  next,  and  as  it  has  furnished  many  military 
leaders  and  monarchs  who  disputed  the  arrogant  claims  of  the 
Brahmans,  conflicts  of  the  upper  castes  have  not  been  infrequent. 

The  VaisJiya,  or  farmer  caste,  has  furnished  the  principal 
groundwork  of  many  admixtures  and  subdivisions,  until  at  the 
present  time  there  are  endless  subcastes,  to  each  of  which  a  par- 
ticular kind  of  employment  is  assigned.  The  Sudras  are  still  the 
menials,  but  there  are  different  grades  of  degradation  even 
among  them. 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     81 

ual  from  the  Yedas,  so  the  philosophers  framed  a 
sort  of  philosophic  Veda  in  the  Upanishads.  Men 
had  begun  to  ask  themselves  the  great  questions  of 
human  life  and  destiny,  "Whence  am  I?  What  is 
this  mysterious  being  of  which  I  am  conscious?" 
They  had  begun  to  reason  about  nature,  the  origin 
of  matter,  the  relation  of  mortals  to  the  Infinite. 
The  school  of  the  Upanishads  regarded  themselves 
as  an  aristocracy  of  intellect,  and  held  philosophy 
as  their  esoteric  and  peculiar  prerogative.  It  was 
maintained  that  two  distinct  kinds  of  revelation 
had  been  made  to  men.  First,  that  simple  kind 
which  was  designed  for  priests  and  the  common 
masses,  for  all  those  who  regarded  only  effects  and 
were  satisfied  with  sacerdotal  assumption  and  merit- 
making.  But,  secondly,  there  was  a  higher  knowl- 
edge which  concerned  itseK  with  the  origin  of  the 
world  and  the  hidden  causes  of  things.  Even  to  this 
day  the  Upanishads  are  the  Vedas  of  the  thinking 
classes  of  India.  "^ 

As  the  Brahmanas  gave  first  expression  to  the  doc- 
trine of  caste,  so  in  the  Upanishads  we  find  the 
first  development  of  pantheism  and  the  doctrine  of 
transmigration.  The  conclusion  had  already  been 
reached  that  "  There  is  only  one  Being  who  exists : 
He  is  within  this  universe  and  yet  outside  this  imi- 
verse :  whoe'er  beholds  all  living  creatures  as  in 
Him,  and  Him  the  universal  spirit,  as  in  all,  thence- 
forth regards  no  creature  with  contempt." 

The  language  of  Hindu  speculation  exhausts  its 
resources  in  similes  by  which  to  represent  personal 
*  Hindu  PhibsopTiy^  Bose,  p.  47. 


82      ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

amnhilation.  Man's  origin  and  relations  are  ac- 
counted for  very  tersely  by  such  illustrations  as 
these  :  "  As  the  web  issues  from  the  spider,  as  little 
sparks  proceed  from  fire,  so  from  the  One  Soul  pro- 
ceed all  breathing  animals,  all  worlds,  all  the  gods, 
all  beings."  Then  as  to  destiny :  "  These  rivers  pro- 
ceed from  the  east  toward  the  west,  thence  from  the 
ocean  they  rise  in  the  form  of  vapor,  and  dropping 
again,  they  flow  toward  the  south  and  merge  into  the 
ocean.  And  as  the  flowing  rivers  are  merged  into 
the  sea,  losing  their  names  and  forms,  so  the  wise, 
freed  from  name  and  form,  pass  into  the  Divine  spirit, 
which  is  greater  than  the  great."  *  Another  favorite 
illustration  is  that  of  the  moon's  reflection  in  the 
water-jar,  which  disappears  the  moment  the  moon 
itseK  is  hidden.  "  If  the  image  in  the  water  has  no 
existence  separate  from  that  of  the  moon,"  says  the 
Hindu,  "  how  can  it  be  shown  that  the  human  soul 
exists  apart  from  God  ?  " 

The  Mundaka  Upanishad,  based  upon  the  Atharva 
Veda  (one  of  the  latest, — the  Upanishad  being  later 
still),  contains  this  account  of  the  universe:  "As 
the  spider  spins  and  gathers  back  (its  thread) ;  as 
plants  sprout  on  the  earth ;  as  hairs  grow  on  a  living 
person ;  so  is  this  universe  here  produced  from  the 
imperishable  nature.  By  contemplation  the  vast  one 
germinates ;  from  him  food  (or  body)  is  produced ; 
and  thence  successively,  breath,  mind,  real  (elements) 
worlds,  and  immortality  resulting  from  (good)  deeds. 
•  "  The  Omniscient  is  profound  contemplation  con- 

*  Indian  Wisdom  on  the  Brahmanas  and  Upanishads.     Also 
Hindu  Philosophy^  Boae. 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     83 

sisting  in  the  knowledge  of  him  who  knows  all; 
and  from  that,  the  (manifested)  vast  one,  as  well 
as  names,  forms,  and  food  proceed;  and  this  is 
truth."* 

It  is  a  great  blemish  upon  the  Upanishads,  that 
while  there  are  subtle,  and  in  some  respects  sublime, 
utterances  to  be  found  here  and  there,  the  great  mass 
is  fanciful  and  often  puerile,  and  in  many  instances 
too  low  and  prurient  to  bear  translation  into  the 
English  language.  This  is  clearly  alleged  by  Mr. 
Bose,  and  frankly  admitted  by  Max  Miiller.f 

In  the  common  protest  which  finally  broke  down 
the  system  of  Brahmanical  sacrifice,  and  for  a  time 
relaxed  the  rigors  of  caste  tyranny.  Buddhism  then 
just  appearing  (say  500  B.C.),  joined  hand  in  hand 
with  the  philosophies.  Men  were  tired  of  priest- 
craft, and  by  a  natural  reaction  they  went  to  an 
opposite  extreme  ;  they  were  tired  of  religion  itself. 
Buddha  became  an  undoubted  atheist  or  agnostic, 
and  six  distinct  schools  of  philosophy  arose  on  the 
basis  of  the  Upanishads — some  of  which  were  purely 
rationalistic,  some  were  conservative,  others  radical. 
Some  resembled  the  Greek  "  Atomists "  in  their 
theory,!  and  others  fought  for  the  authority,  and  even 
the  supreme  divinity,  of  the  Vedas.  §  All  believed  in 
the  eternity  of  matter,  and  the  past  eternity  of  the 
soul;  all  accepted  the  doctrine  of  transmigration, 
and  maintained  that  the  spiritual  nature  can  only  act 

*  Colf^ook^s  Essays,  foot-note,  p.  85. 

f  See  Introduction  to  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  vol.  L 

X  VaisGshika  Philosophy,  in  Indian  Wisdom, 

%  Mimansa  Philosophy.     Ibid. 


84     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

through  a  material  body.  All  were  pessimistic,  and 
looked  for  relief  only  in  absorption. 

But  the  progress  of  Hindu  thought  was  marked 
by  checks  and  counter-checks.  As  the  tyranny  of 
the  priesthood  had  led  to  the  protest  of  philoso- 
phy, so  the  extreme  and  conflicting  speculations  of 
philosophic  rationalism  probably  gave  rise  to  the 
conservatism  of  the  Code  of  Manu.  No  adequate 
idea  of  the  drift  of  Hindu  thought  can  be  gained 
without  assigning  due  influence  to  this  all-important 
body  of  laws.  They  accomplished  more  in  holding 
fast  the  power  of  the  Brahmans,  and  enabling  them 
to  stem  the  tide  of  intellectual  rebellion,  and  finally 
to  regain  the  sceptre  from  the  hand  of  Buddhism, 
than  all  other  literatures  combined.  Their  date  can- 
not be  definitely  known.  They  were  composed  by 
different  men  and  at  different  times.  They  probably 
followed  the  Upanishads,  but  antedated  the  full  de- 
velopment of  the  philosophic  schools. 

Many  of  the .  principles  of  Manu's  Code  had  prob- 
ably been  uttered  as  early  as  the  seventh  century 
B.O.*  The  ferment  of  rationalistic  thought  was  even 
then  active,  and  demanded  restraint.  The  one  phrase 
which  expresses  the  whole  spirit  of  the  laws  of 
Manu  is  intense  conservatism.  They  stand  for  the 
definite  authority  of  dogma ;  they  re-assert  in  strong 
terms  the  authority  of  the  Yedas ;  they  establish 
and  fortify  by  all  possible  influences,  the  institution 
of  caste.     They  enclose  as  in  an  iron  framework,  all 

*  Sir  Monier  Williams  assigns  the  Code  of  Manu  in  its  present 
form  to  the  sixth  century  B.C.  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  215.  Other 
Oriental  scholars  consider  it  older. 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     85 

domestic,  social,  civil,  and  religious  institutions. 
They  embrace  not  only  the  destiny  of  men  upon  the 
earth,  but  also  the  rewards  and  punishments  of  the 
future  life.  Whatever  they  touched  was  petrified. 
Abuses  which  had  crept  in  through  the  natural  de-* 
velopment  of  human  depravity — for  example,  the 
oppression  of  woman — the  laws  of  Manu  stamped 
with  inflexible  and  irreversible  authority.  The  evils 
which  grow  up  in  savage  tribes  are  bad  enough,  the 
tyranny  of  mere  brute  force  is  to  be  deplored,  but 
worst  of  all  is  that  which  is  sanctioned  by  statute, 
and  made  the  very  comer -stone  of  a  great  civil- 
ization. Probably  no  other  system  of  laws  ever 
did  so  much  to  rivet  the  chains  of  domestic  tyr- 
anny.^ 

The  Code  of  Manu  has  been  classified  as,  1st,  sa- 
cred knowledge  and  religion;  2d,  philosophy;  3d, 
social  rules  and  caste  organization;  4th,  criminal 
and  civil  laws ;  5th,  systems  of  penance ;  6th,  escha- 
tology,  or  the  doctrine  of  future  rewards.  No  unin- 
spired or  non-Vedic  production  has  equal  authority 
in  India.  We  can  only  judge  of  its  date  by  its  rela- 
tive place  among  other  books.  It  applies  Vedic 
names  to  the  gods,  though  it  mentions  Brahma  and 
Vishnu,  but  it  makes  no  reference  to  the  Trimurti. 
Pantheism  was  evidently  in  existence  and  was  made 
prominent  in  the  code.  The  influence  of  Manu  over 
the  jurisprudence  of  India  was  a  matter  of  growth. 
At  first  the  code  appears  to  have  been  a  guide  in 

*  These  tendencies  were  more  intensely  emphasized  in  some  of 
the  later  codes,  which,  however,  were  only  variations  of  the  greater 
one  of  Manu. 


86     ORIENTAL  MELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

customs  and  observances,  but  as  it  gained  currency 
it  acquired  the  force  of  law,  and  extended  its  sway 
over  all  the  tribes  of  India.  It  was  not,  however, 
maintained  as  a  uniform  code  throughout  the  land, 
but  its  principles  were  found  underlying  the  laws  of 
all  the  provinces.  Its  very  merits  were  finally  fruit- 
ful of  evil.  Human  weal  was  sacrificed  to  the  over- 
shadomng  power  of  a  system  of  customs  cunningly 
wrought  and  established  by  Brahmanical  influence. 
The  author  was  evidently  a  Brahman,  and  the  whole 
work  was  prepared  and  promulgated  in  the  interests 
of  Brahmanism  as  against  all  freedom  of  thought. 
Its  support  of  the  Vedas  was  fanatical.  Thus :  "  A 
Brahman  by  retaining  the  Rig  Yeda  in  his  memory 
incurs  no  guilt,  though  he  should  destroy  the  three 
worlds."  Again:  "When  there  is  contradiction  of 
two  precepts  in  the  Yeda,  both  are  declared  to  be 
law ;  both  have  been  justly  promulgated  by  known 
sages  as  valid  law." 

The  laws  of  Manu  make  no  mention  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Baku  or  faith,  and  there  is  no  reference  to 
the  worship  of  the  Sakti  ;  both  of  these  were  of  later 
date.  The  doctrine  of  transmigration,  however,  is 
fully  stated,  and  as  a  consequence  of  this  the  hells 
described  in  the  code,  though  places  of  torture,  re- 
solve themselves  into  merely  temporary  purgatories, 
while  the  heavens  become  only  the  steps  on  the  road 
to  a  union  with  deity.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  practice  of  employing  idols  to  represent  de- 
ity was  unknown  at  the  time  the  code  was  compiled. 
There  is  no  allusion  to  public  services  or  to  teaching 
in  the  temples,  the  chief  rites  of  religion  were  of  a 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDmSM     87 

domestic  kind,  and  the  priests  of  that  age  were  noth- 
ing more  than  domestic  chaplains. 

Manu's  theory  of  creation  was  this  :  "  The  Self- 
Existent,  having  willed  to  produce  various  beings 
from  his  own  substance,  first  with  a  thought  created 
the  waters  and  placed  on  them  a  productive  seed  or 
egg.  Then  he  himself  was  bom  in  that  egg  in  the 
form  of  Brahma.  Next  he  caused  the  egg  to  divide 
itseK,  and  out  of  its  two  divisions  there  came  the 
heaven  above  and  the  earth  beneath.  Afterward, 
having  divided  his  own  substance  he  became  half 
male,  half  female.  From  that  female  was  produced 
Viraj,  from  whom  was  created  the  secondary  progen- 
itor of  all  beings.  Then  from  the  Supreme  Soul  he 
drew  forth  Manu's  intellect."  This  mixed  cosmogony 
is  supposed  to  indicate  a  diversity  of  authorship. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  much  less  philosophi- 
cal than  the  theory  of  creation  quoted  above  from 
the  Mundaka  Upanishad.*  If  we  compare  Manu's 
account  with  the  description  of  the  "  Beginning " 
foimd  in  one  of  the  hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda,f  we 
shall  see  that  there  has  been  a  downward  trend  of 
Hinduism  from  the  simple  and  sublime  conceptions 
of  the  early  poets  to  that  which  is  grotesque,  and 
which  has  probably  been  worked  over  to  suit  the 
purposes  of  the  Brahmans.  No  mythological  legend 
was  too  absurd  if  it  promoted  the  notion  of  the  di- 
vine origin  of  the  Manus  (sages)  and  the  Brahmans. 

Manu  makes  much  of  the  Vedic  passage  which 
refers  to  the  origin  of  caste.  J    He  maintained  that 
this  distinction  of  caste  was  as  much  a  law  of  nature 
*  See  p.  82.         f  Quoted  on  p.  76.         %  See  note,  p.  80. 


88     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

jand  divine  appointment  as  the  separation  of  differ- 
ent classes  of  animals.  The  prominence  accorded  to 
the  Brahmans  was  nothing  short  of  divine.  "  Even 
when  Brahmans  employ  themselves  in  all  sorts  of 
inferior  occupations  (as  poverty  often  compels  them 
to  do)  they  must  under  all  circumstances  be  hon- 
ored, for  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  supreme  divini- 
ties." "  A  Brahman's  own  power  is  stronger  than  the 
power  of  the  king,  therefore  by  his  own  might  he  may 
chastise  his  foes."  "  He  who  merely  assails  a  Brah- 
man with  intent  to  kill  him,  will  continue  in  hell  for 
a  hundred  years,  and  he  who  actually  strikes  him 
must  endure  a  thousand  years." 

It  is  always  the  truth  that  is  mingled  with  the 
errors  of  any  system  which  constitutes  its  life  and 
gives  it  perpetuity,  and  there  is  much  in  the  Code  of 
Manu  to  be  admired.  Like  the  Confucian  ethics,  it 
laid  its  foundations  in  the  respect  due  from  child- 
hood to  parents,  and  in  guarding  the  sanctities  of 
the  home.  It  aimed  at  fairness  between  ruler  and 
subject,  in  an  age  when  over  most  of  the  Asiatic  con- 
tinent the  wildest  caprice  of  rulers  was  the  law  of 
their  respective  realms.  Manu  taught  the  duty  of 
kings  toward  their  subjects  in  most  emphatic  terms. 
They  were  to  regard  themselves  as  servants,  or 
rather  as  fathers,  of  the  people ;  and  rules  were  pre- 
scribed for  their  entire  conduct.  They  were  the 
representatives  of  deity  in  administering  the  affairs 
of  mortals,  and  must  realize  their  solemn  responsi- 
bility.* It  must  ever  be  acknowledged  that  the  Hindu 

*  Sir  Monier  Williams  declares  that  some  of  Manu's  precepts 
are  wortlij  of  Christianity.     Indian  Wisdom^  p.  212. 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     89 

laws  respecting  property  were  characterized  by  wis- 
dom and  equity.  Taxation  was  not  subject  to  caprice 
or  injustice ;  where  discriminations  occurred  they 
were  in  favor  of  the  poor,  and  the  heaviest  burdens 
were  laid  where  they  should  be  laid,  upon  the  rich. 
There  were  wise  adaptations,  calculated  to  develop 
the  industry  and  self-help  of  the  weakest  classes, 
and  care  was  taken  that  they  never  should  become 
oppressive.  No  political  or  civic  tyranny  could  be 
allowed ;  but  that  of  the  priesthood  in  its  relations 
to  all  ranks,  and  that  of  the  householder  toward  his 
wife  and  toward  all  women,  were  quite  sufficient. 
In  this  last  regard  we  scarcely  know  which  was  the 
greater  —  the  heartless  wickedness  of  the  Code,  or 
its  blind  and  bigoted  folly.  How  it  was  that  laws 
could  be  framed  which  indicated  such  rare  sagacity, 
which  in  many  other  respects  were  calculated  to 
build  up  the  very  highest  civilization,  and  which,  at 
the  same  time,  failed  to  foresee  that  this  oppression 
of  woman  must  result  in  the  inevitable  degeneracy 
of  succeeding  generations  of  men,  must  ever  remain 
a  mystery.* 

*  It  should  be  set  down  to  the  credit  of  the  Code  of  Manu  that 
with  all  its  relentless  cruelty  toward  woman  it  nowhere  gives 
countenance  to  the  atrocious  custom  of  widow-burning  which 
soon  afterward  became  an  important  factor  in  the  Hindu  system 
and  desolated  the  homes  of  India  for  more  than  two  thousand 
years. 

There  would  seem  to  be  some  dispute  as  to  whether  or  no^ 
widow-burning  is  sanctioned  in  the  Rig  Veda.  Colebrooke,  in  his 
Essays  (Vol.  I.,  p.  135),  quotes  one  or  two  passages  which  author- 
ize the  rite,  but  Sir  Monier  Williams  {Indian  Wisdom,  p.  259, 
note)  has  shown  that  changes  were  made  in  this  text  at  a  much 
later  day  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  Vedic  authority  for  a  cruel 


90      ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

We  have  glanced  at  the  purer  and  simpler  Aryan- 
ism  of  the  early  period,  at  the  bigoted,  tyrannical 
Brahmanism,  with  its  ritual,  its  sacrifices,  its  caste. 
We  have  merely  alluded  to  the  rationalistic  reaction 
of  the  philosophers  and  the  Buddhists.  We  shall 
now  see  that  the  Brahman  power  is  not  broken,  but 
that  it  will  regain  all  and  more  than  it  has  lost,  that 
it  will  prove  elastic  enough  to  embrace  all  that  has 
gone  before  ;  that  while  Buddhism  will  be  banished, 
many  of  its  elements  will  be  retained,  and  the  whole 
woven  into  one  marvellous  texture  which  we  will  call 
Hinduism,^  Even  during  the  period  of  Buddhism's 
greatest  triumphs,  say,  two  or  three  centuries  before 
Christ,  changes  of  great  moment  were  going  on  in 
the  Brahmanical  faith.  The  old  sacrificial  system 
had  lost  its  power,  but  the  flexible  and  inexhaustible 
resources  of  Brahmanical  cunning  were  by  no  means 
dormant.  In  the  border  wars  of  the  Aryans,  with 
rival  invaders  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  con- 
quered but  ever  restless  aborigines  on  the  other, 
great  and  popular  heroes  had  sprung  up.  The  ex- 
ploits of  these  heroes  had  been  celebrated  in  two 
great  epics,  the  Ramayana  and  the  Mahabharata, 
and  the  popularity  of  these  poems  was  immense. 
The  heroes  were  of  the  soldier  caste,  and  gave  to 

system,  of  which  even  so  late  a  work  as  the  Code  of  Manu  makes 
no  mention,  and  (page  205  Ibid. )  he  quotes  another  passage  from 
the  Rig  Veda  which  directs  a  widow  to  ascend  the  pyre  of  her 
husband  as  a  token  of  attachment,  but  to  leave  it  before  the  burn- 
ing is  begun. 

*  As  the  spread  of  Buddhism  had  owed  much  to  the  political 
triumph  of  King  Ashoka,  so  the  revival  of  Hinduism  was  greatly 
indebted  to  the  influence  of  a  new  dynasty  about  a  century  b.c. 


8UGGES8IVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     91 

that  caste  a  prestige  which  seemed  to  the  Brah- 
mans  formidable  and  dangerous.^  The  divine  pre- 
rogatives of  their  order  were  all  in  jeopardy. 

The  remedy  chosen  by  the  Brahmans  was  a  bold 
and  desperate  one.  These  heroes  must  be  raised 
out  of  the  soldier  caste  by  making  them  divine.  As 
such  they  would  hold  a  nearer  relation  to  the  divine 
Brahmans  than  to  the  soldiers.  The  legends  were 
therefore  worked  over — Brahmanized — so  to  speak,  f 
Rama,  who  had  overcome  certain  chieftains  of  Cey- 
lon, and  Krishna,  who  had  won  great  battles  in  Raj- 
putana,  were  raised  to  the  rank  of  gods  and  demi- 
gods. By  an  equal  exaggeration  the  hostile  chiefs 
of  rival  invaders  were  transformed  to  demons,  and 
the  black,  repulsive  hill  tribes,  who  were  involved  as 
allies  in  these  conflicts,  were  represented  as  apes. 
As  a  part  of  this  same  Brahmanizing  process,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trimurti  was  developed,  and  also  the 
doctrine  of  incarnation.  Most  conspicuous  were  the 
incarnations  of  Yishnu ;  Rama  and  Krishna  were 
finally  placed  among  the  ten  incarnations  of  that 
deity.  This  was  a  skilful  stroke  of  policy,  for  it  was 
now  no  longer  the  heroes  of  the  soldier  caste  who 
had  won  victory  for  the  Aryans ;  it  was  Vishnu,  the 
preserver,  the  care-taker,  and  sympathizer  with  all 
the  interests  of  mankind.  The  development  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  Trimurti  and  of  incarnation  un- 
doubtedly followed  both  the  rise  of  Buddhism  and 
the  promulgation  of  the  Laws  of  Manu. 

Meanwhile  the  Brahmans  were  shrewd  enough  to 
adapt  themselves  to  certain  pther  necessities.  The 
*  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  314,  flbid.,  p.  317. 


92     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

influence  of  Buddhism  was  still  a  force  which  was 
not  to  be  disregarded.  It  had  demonstrated  one 
thing  which  had  never  been  recognized  before,  and 
that  was  the  need  of  a  more  human  and  sympathetic 
element  in  the  divine  objects  of  worship.  Men  were 
weary  of  worshipping  gods  who  had  no  kindly  in- 
terest in  humanity.  They  were  weary  of  a  religion 
which  had  no  other  element  than  that  of  fear  or  of 
bargaining  with  costly  sacrifices.  They  longed  for 
something  which  had  the  quality  of  mercy.  Buddha 
had  demonstrated  the  value  of  this  element,  and  by 
an  adroit  stroke  of  policy  the  Brahmans  adopted 
Gautama  as  the  ninth  avatar  of  Vishnu.  Meanwhile 
they  adopted  the  heroic  Krishna  as  the  god  of  sym- 
pathy— the  favorite  of  the  lower  masses  who  were 
not  too  critical  toward  his  vices. 

We  have  now  reached  the  fully  developed  form  of 
Hinduism,^  The  Brahmans  had  embraced  every 
element  that  could  give  strength  to  their  broad,  eclec- 
tic, and  all-embracing  system,  f  The  doctrine  of  the 
Trimurti  had  become  a  strong  factor,  as  it  furnished 
a  sort  of  framework,  and  gave  stability.  As  com- 
pared with  the  early  Aryanism,  it  removed  the  idea 
of  deity  from  merely  natural  forces  to  that  of  ab- 
stract thoughts,  principles,  and  emotions,  as  active 
and  potent  in  the  world.  At  the  same  time  it  re- 
tained the  old  Vedic  deities  under  new  names  and 

*  Brahmanism  and  Hinduism  are  often  used  interchangeably, 
but  all  confusion  will  be  avoided  bj  confining  the  former  to  that 
intense  sacerdotalism  which  prevailed  during  the  Brahmana  pe- 
riod, while  the  latter  is  used  more  comprehensively,  or  is  referred 
particularly  to  the  later  and  fully  developed  system. 

f  Hinduism^  pp.  12,  13. 


8UGGES8IVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     93 

with  new  functions,  and  it  did  not  abate  its  professed 
regard  for  Yedic  authority.  The  Brahmans  had  ren- 
dered their  system  popular  in  a  sense  with  the  in- 
tellectual classes  by  adopting  all  the  philosophies. 
They  had  stopped  the  mouth  of  Buddhist  protest  by 
embracing  the  Buddha  among  their  incarnations. 
They  had  shown  an  advance  in  the  succession  of 
incarnations  from  the  early  embodiments  of  brute 
force,  the  fish,  the  tortoise,  the  boar,  up  to  heroes, 
and  from  these  to  the  ninth  avatar,  the  Buddha,  as 
a  moralist  and  philosopher.*  They  left  on  record 
the  prediction  that  a  tenth  should  come — and  he 
is  yet  to  come — who,  in  a  still  higher  range  of 
moral  and  spiritual  power,  should  redeem  and  reno- 
vate the  earth,  and  establish  a  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness. 

Meanwhile,  in  this  renaissance  of  the  Hindu 
faith,  this  wide,  politic,  self-adapting  system,  we 
find  not  only  Buddhism,  Philosophy,  the  early  Ary- 
anism,  and  the  stiff  cultus  of  Brahmanism,  but 
there  is  also  a  large  infusion  of  the  original  supersti- 
tions of  the  Dravidians,  Kohls,  Santals,  and  other 
nature  worshippers  of  the  hill  tribes.  Much  of  the 
polytheism  of  the  modem  Hindus — the  worship  of 
hills,  trees,  apes,  cattle,  the  sun,  the  moon,  unseen - 
spirits,  serpents,  etc. — has  been  adopted  from  these 
simple  tribes,  so  that  the  present  system  embraces 

*  The  Brahmans  were  careful,  however,  to  brand  the  Buddha, 
while  admitting  him  as  an  avatar.  Their  theory  was  that  Vishnu 
appeared  in  Gautama  for  the  purpose  of  deluding  certain  de- 
mons into  despising  the  worship  of  the  gods,  and  thus  securing 
their  destruction.  This  affords  an  incidental  proof  that  Gautama 
was  regarded  as  an  atheist. — See  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  335. 


94:     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

all  that  has  ever  appeared  on  the  soil  of  India — 
even  Mohammedanism  to  some  extent ;  and  as  some 
contend,  very  much  also  has  been  incorporated  from 
the  early  teachings  of  the  so-called  St.  Thomas 
Christians  of  Malabar.  Such  is  the  immense  com- 
posite which  is  called  Hinduism.  It  continued  its 
development  through  the  early  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  down  even  to  the  Middle  Ages. 
Since  then  there  has  been  disintegration  instead  of 
growth.  The  Brahmans  have  not  only  retained  the 
Aryan  deities,  and  extended  Vishnu's  incarnate  nat- 
ure over  the  epic  heroes,  but  in  the  Puranas  they 
have  woven  into  the  alleged  lives  of  the  incarnate 
gods  the  most  grotesque  mythologies  and  many  re- 
volting vices. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  trace  for  a  moment  the 
influence  of  the  different  lines  of  Hindu  literature 
upon  the  general  development  of  national  charac- 
ter. Of  course,  the  early  Vedic  literature  has  never 
lost  its  influence  as  the  holy  and  inspired  source 
of  all  knowledge  to  the  Hindu  race ;  but  we  have 
seen  how  much  more  potential  were  the  Brahmanas 
and  the  Upanishad  philosophy  drawn  from  the  Ve- 
das,  than  were  those  sacred  oracles  themselves ;  how 
the  Brahmanas  riveted  the  chains  of  priestcraft  and 
caste,  and  how  the  philosophies  invigorated  the  intel- 
lect of  the  people  at  a  time  when  they  were  most  in 
danger  of  sinking  into  the  torpor  of  ignorance  and 
base  subserviency  to  ritual  and  sacrifice ;  how  it  gave 
to  the  better  classes  the  courage  to  rise  up  in  rebel- 
lion and  throw  off  every  yoke,  and  think  for  them- 
selves.   We  have  seen  how  Buddhism  by  its  protest 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM     95 

against  sacerdotalism  crippled  for  a  time  the  power 
of  the  Brahmans  and  raised  a  representative  of  the 
soldier  caste  to  the  chief  place  as  a  teacher  of  men  ; 
how  its  inculcation  of  pity  to  man  and  beast  ban- 
ished the  slaughter  and  cruelty  of  wholesale  and 
meaningless  sacrifice,  and  how  its  example  of  sym- 
pathy changed  Hinduism  itself,  and  brought  it  into 
nearer  relations  with  humanity.  Driven  from  India, 
though  it  was,  it  left  an  immense  deposit  of  influ- 
ence and  of  power.  We  have  seen  how,  as  a  coun- 
ter-check to  philosophy  and  Buddhism,  the  Code 
of  Manu  reasserted  the  authority  of  the  Vedas,  and 
riveted  anew  the  chains  of  caste,  and  how  it  compen- 
sated for  its  oppressiveness  by  many  wholesome  and 
benign  regulations  —  accomplishing  more,  perhaps, 
than  all  other  literatures  combined  to  maintain  the 
stability  of  Hinduism,  through  its  many  vicissi- 
tudes, and  in  spite  of  the  heterogeneous  elements 
which  it  received  and  incorporated. 

Scarcely  less  important  was  the  influence  of  the 
great  epics — the  Ramayana  and  the  Mahabharata — 
with  their  doctrine  of  Trimurti  and  the  incarnations 
of  Vishnu  in  the  national  heroes.  This  conciliated 
the  soldier  caste,  subsidized  the  most  popular  char- 
acters in  Hindu  tradition,  at  the  same  time  that  it 
made  them  tenfold  more  glorious  than  before.  The 
Epics  widened  out  the  field  of  Hindu  mythology 
immensely.  Never  before  had  there  been  such  a 
boundless  range  for  the  imagination.  The  early 
Brahmans  had  cramped  all  intellectual  growth,  and 
held  mankind  by  the  leash  of  priestly  ritual.  The 
philosophies  had  been  too  strait  and  lofty  for  any 


96     ORIENTAL  BELIGI0N8  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

but  the  higher  class ;  Mann's  laws  had  been  a  stem 
school-master  to  keep  the  people  under  curbs  and 
restraints  ;  even  the  Brahmans  themselves  were  the 
slaves  of  their  own  ritual.  But  all  the  people  could 
imderstand  and  admire  Rama's  wonderful  victories 
over  the  demon  Ravana.  All  could  appreciate  the  de- 
votion of  the  lovely  Sita,  and  weep  when  she  was  kid- 
napped and  borne  away,  like  Grecian  Helen,  to  the 
demon  court  in  Ceylon;  and  they  could  be  thrilled 
with  unbounded  joy  when  she  was  restored — the 
truest  and  loveliest  of  wives — to  be  the  sharer  of  a 
throne. 

The  Epics  took  such  hold  of  the  popular  heart 
that  any  fact,  any  theory,  any  myth  that  could  be 
attached  to  them  found  ready  credence.  The  Ma- 
habharata  especially  became  a  general  texture  upon 
which  any  philosophy,  or  all  the  philosophies,  might 
be  woven  at  will.  And  for  a  long  period,  extend- 
ing from  three  or  four  centuries  B.C.  onward  far  into 
the  Christian  era,  it  was  ever  ready  to  receive  modi- 
fications from  the  fertile  brain  and  skilful  hand  of 
any  devout  Brahman.  A  striking  example  of  this  was 
the  introduction  of  the  Bhagavad  Gita.  When  this 
was  composed,  somewhere  about  the  second  or  third 
century  of  our  era,  there  was  no  little  conflict  be- 
tween the  different  schools  of  philosophy ;  and  its  im- 
known  author  attempted  to  unite  them  all  in  a  poem 
which  should  harmonize  their  contradictions  and 
exalt  the  virtues  of  each,  and  at  the  same  time  reiter- 
ate all  the  best  maxims  of  Hinduism.  Some  cen- 
turies later,  the  pronounced  Yedantist  Sancarakarya 
revamped  the  poem  and  gave  its  philosophy  a  more 


8UGGES8IVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM    97 . 

pantheistic  character ;  later  still  the  demigod  Krish- 
na was  raised  to  full  rank  as  the  supreme  Yishnu — 
the  Creator  and  Upholder  of  all  things.* 

It  is  important  to  notice  that  in  the  trend  of 
Hindu  literature  through  so  many  ages  there  has 
been  no  upward  movement,  but  rather  a  decline. 
Nowhere  do  we  find  hymns  of  so  pure  and  lofty  a 
tone  as  in  the  early  Yedas.  No  philosophy  of  the 
later  times  has  equalled  that  of  the  Upanishads  and 
the  six  Darsanas.  No  law-giver  like  Manu  has  ap- 
peared for  twenty-four  centuries.  No  Sanskrit  scho- 
larship has  equalled  that  of  the  great  grammarian 
Panini,  who  lived  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.  And 
although  no  end  of  poetry  has  succeeded  the  great 
Epics,  it  has  shown  deterioration.  The  Puranas, 
written  at  a  later  day,  reveal  only  a  reckless  zeal 
to  exalt  the  incarnate  deities.  They  may  properly 
be  called  histories  of  the  incarnations  of  Brahma, 
Yishnu,  Siva,  and  glorifications  of  Krishna.  And 
the  very  nature  of  the  subjects  with  which  they  deal 
gives  free  scope  to  an  unbridled  imagination  and  to 
the  most  reckless  exaggeration. 

If  anything  more  were  wanting  to  insure  their  ex- 
travagance, it  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they 
were  inspired  by  the  rivalry  of  the  respective  wor- 
shippers of  different  gods.  The  Puranas  mark  the 
development  of  separate  sects,  each  of  which  re- 
garded its  particular  deity  as  the  supreme  and  only 
god.  The  worshippers  of  Yishnu  and  the  worship- 
pers of   Siva  were  in  sharp  rivalry,  and  they  have 

*  See  Aryan  Witness^  closing  chapter  ;  also  Christ  and  Oth&r 
Masters^  p.  198,  notes  1,  3,  and  3. 


98     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

continued  their  separation  to  this  day.*  Those  who 
came  to  worship  Vishnu  as  incarnate  in  Krishna, 
gained  an  advantage  in  the  popular  element  associ- 
ated with  a  favorite  hero.  Yet  this  was  matched  by 
the  influence  of  the  Sankhya  philosophy,  which  as- 
signed to  Siva  a  male  and  female  dualism,  a  doctrine 
which  finally  plunged  Hinduism  into  deepest  degra- 
dation. It  brought  about  a  new  development  known 
^  Saktism,  and  the  still  later  and  grosser  literature 
of  the  Tantras.  In  these,  Hinduism  reached  its  low- 
est depths.  The  modem  "  Aryas  "  discard  both  the 
Tantras  and  the  Puranas,  and  assert  that  the  popu- 
lar incarnations  of  Yishnu  were  only  good  men.  They 
take  refuge  from  the  corruptions  of  modem  Hindu- 
ism in  the  purer  teachings  of  the  early  Vedas. 

The  Contrasts  of  Hinduism  and  Christianity, 

Hinduism  has  some  elements  in  common  with 
Christianity  which  it  is  well  to  recognize.  It  is 
theistic ;  it  is  a  religion,  as  distinguished  from  the 
agnostic  and  ethical  systems  of  India  and  China. f 
Hinduism  always  recognized  a  direct  divine  revela- 
tion which  it  regards  with  profound  reverence ;  and 
through  all  its  variations  and  corruptions  it  has  in- 
culcated in  the  minds  of  the  Indian  races  a  deeply 
religious  feeling.     It  has  been  claimed  that  it  has 

*  See  Brahmanism  and  Hinduism,  Monier  Williams. 

f  Hardwick  traces  similarities  between  Hindu  traditions  and 
Christianity  in  such  points  as  these  :  1,  The  primitive  state  of 
man  ;  3,  his  fall  by  transgression  ;  3,  his  punishment  in  the  Del- 
uge ;  4,  the  rite  of  sacrifice  ;  5,  the  primitive  hope  of  restora- 
tion.— Christ  and  Other  Masters,  p.  209. 


8XJGGE88IVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  BINDTIISM    99 

made  the  Hindus  the  most  devotional  people  in  the 
world.  Like  Christianity,  Hinduism  appeals  to 
man's  intellectual  nature,  and  it  is  inwrought  with 
profound  philosophy.  It  does  not,  however,  like 
some  modem  systems,  teach  that  divine  truth  has 
been  revealed  to  man  by  natural  processes  ;  rather  it 
regards  the  early  revelation  as  having  suffered  obscu- 
ration.* It  also  has  its  trinity,  its  incarnations,  and 
its  predictions  of  a  Messiah  who  shall  restore  the  ' 
truth  and  establish  righteousness.  The  Hindu  tra- 
ditions maintain  that  mankind  descended  from  a 
single  pair ;  f  that  the  first  estate  of  the  race  was  one 
of  innocence  ;  that  man  was  one  of  the  last  products 
of  creation  ;  that  in  the  first  ages  he  was  upright,  and 
consequently  happy.  "  The  beings  who  were  thus 
created  by  Brahma  are  said  to  have  been  endowed 
with  righteousness  and  perfect  faith;  they  abode 
wherever  they  pleased,  unchecked  by  any  impedi- 
ment ;  their  hearts  were  free  from  guile  ;  they  were 
pure,  made  exempt  from  toil  by  observance  of  sacred 
institutes.  In  their  sanctified  minds  Hari  dwelt; 
they  were  filled  with  perfect  wisdom  by  which  they 
contemplated  the  glory  of  Vishnu."  Hartwell  has 
pointed  out  the  fact  that  the  early  Hindu  traditions 
here  unite  with  the  Scriptural  account  in  virtually 
denying  all  those  theories  of  evolution  which  trace 
the  development  of  man  from  lower  animals.  J 

*  The  Hindus  hold  that  * '  truth  was  originally  deposited  with 
men,  but  gradually  slumbered  and  was  forgotten  ;  the  knowledge 
of  it  returns  like  a  recollection." — Humboldt's  Kosmos,  ii.,  p.  113. 

\  Professor  Wilson's  Lectures,  p.  52. 

X  Vishnu  Puranas,  p.  45,  note  4. 


100     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

But  compared  with  Christianity,  its  contrasts  are 
far  greater  than  its  resemblances.  First,  as  to  the 
nature  of  God,  there  is  an  infinite  difference  between 
the  cold  and  unconscious  Brahman,  slumbering  for 
ages  without  thought  or  emotion  or  any  moral  attri- 
bute, and  the  God  of  Israel,  whose  power  and  wis- 
dom and  goodness,  whose  mercy  and  truth  and  ten- 
der compassion,  are  so  constantly  set  forth  in  the 
Bible.  The  latter  compares  Himself  to  a  Father 
who  cares  for  his  children,  and  who  has  redeemed 
the  world  by  an  infinite  sacrifice.  Even  in  the  most 
popular  emanation  of  Brahman — even  in  Vishnu — 
there  is  nothing  of  a  fatherly  spirit,  no  appeal  as  to 
children,  no  kindly  remonstrance  against  sin,  no 
moral  instruction,  or  effort  to  encourage  and  establish 
character,  no  promise  of  reward,  no  enkindling  of 
immortal  hope. 

Second,  there  is  a  striking  contrast  in  the  com- 
parative estimates  which  Hinduism  and  Christian- 
ity place  upon  the  human  soul.  Unlike  Buddhism, 
Hinduism  does  recognize  the  existence  of  a  soul, 
but  it  is  only  a  temporary  emanation,  like  the  moon's 
reflection  in  the  water.  It  resembles  its  source  as 
does  the  moon's  image,  but  coldly  and  in  a  most  un- 
satisfactory sense ;  there  is  no  capacity  for  fellow- 
ship, and  the  end  is  absorption.''^  On  the  other  hand, 
Christianity  teaches  us  that  we  are  created  in  God's 

*  Buddhism  is  still  more  disheartening,  since  it  denies  the  sepa- 
rate conscious  existence  of  the  ego.  There  cannot  be  divine  fel- 
lowship, therefore,  but  only  the  current  of  thoughts  and  emotions 
like  the  continuous  flame  of  a  burning  candle.  Not  our  souls 
will  survive,  but  our  Karma. 


8UGGE8SIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM    101 

image,  but  not  that  we  are  his  image.  We  are  sep- 
arate, though  dependent,  and  if  reunited  to  him 
through  Christ  we  shall  dwell  in  his  presence  for- 
ever. 

3  /  Third,  the  two  systems  are  in  strong  contrast  in 
the  comparative  hopes  which  they  hold  out  for  the 
future.  The  doctrine  of  transmigration  casts  a 
gloom  over  all  conscious  being ;  it  presents  an  out- 
look so  depressing  as  to  make  life  a  burden,  and  the 
acme  of  all  possible  attainment  is  individual  extinc- 
tion, or  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  absorption 
into  deity.  The  logic  of  it  is  that  it  would  be  bet- 
ter still  not  to  have  been  bom  at  all.  Christianity 
promises  an  immediate  transfer  to  a  life  of  unalloyed 
blessedness,  and  an  endless  growth  of  all  our  powers 
and  capacities  ;  but  why  should  Hinduism  urge  the 
cultivation  of  that  whose  real  destiny  is  "efface- 
ment  ?  "  Hinduism  finds  the  explanation  of  life's 
mysteries  and  inscrutable  trials  in  the  theory  of  sins 
committed  in  a  previous  existence.  Christianity, 
while  recognizing  the  same  trials,  relieves  them  with 
the  hope  of  solutions  in  a  future  life  of  compensating 
joy.  The  one  turns  to  that  which  is  past,  unchange- 
able and  hopeless,  and  finds  only  sullen  despair; 
the  other  anticipates  an  inheritance  richer  than  eye 
hath  seen,  or  ear  .heard,  or  heart  conceived. 

j^]  Fourth,  Hinduism  has  no  Saviour  and  no  salva- 
tion. It  is  not  a  religion  in  the  highest  sense  of 
resctce  and  reconciliation.  It  avails  us  of  no  saving 
power  higher  than  our  own  unaided  effort.  It  im- 
plies the  ruiQ  of  sin,  but  provides  no  remedy.  It 
presents  no  omnipotent  arm  stretched  forth  to  save. 


102     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Its  fatalism  places  man  under  endless  disabilities, 
and  then  bids  him  to  escape  from  the  nexus  if  he 
can ;  but  it  reveals  no  divine  helper,  no  sacrifice,  no 
mediator,  no  regenerating  Spirit.  It  has  no  glad 
tidings  to  proclaim,  no  comfort  in  sorrow,  no  victory 
over  the  sting  of  death,  no  resurrection  unto  Life. 
Though  at  a  period  subsequent  to  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  in  India — perhaps  the  seventh  or  eighth 
century  A.D.  —  a  doctrine  of  faith  (BaJcti)  was  en- 
grafted upon  Hinduism,  yet  it  had  no  hint  of  a 
Saviour  from  sin  and  death.* 

Fifth,  in  Hinduism  there  is  no  liberty  for  the  free 
action  of  the  human  spirit.  Though  the  life  of  a 
Brahman  is  intensely  religious,  yet  it  is  cramped 
with  exactions  which  are  not  only  abortive  but  posi- 
tively belittling.  The  code  of  Brahmanism  never 
deals  with  general  principles  in  the  regulation  of 
conduct,  but  fills  the  whole  course  of  life  with 
punctilious  minutiae  of  observances.  Instead  of  pre- 
scribing, as  Christ  did,  an  all  -  comprehensive  law 
of  supreme  love  to  God  and  love  to  our  neighbor 
as  ourselves,  it  loads  the  mind  with  petty  exac- 
tions, puerile  precepts,  inane  prohibitions.  "  Unlike 
Christianity,  which  is  all  spirit  and  life,"  says  Dr. 
Duff,  "Hinduism  is  all  letter  and  death."  Repres- 
sion takes  the  place  of  inspiration  and  the  encour- 
agement of  hope. 

There  are  a  thousand  subtle  principles  in  Hindu- 
ism whose  influence  is  felt  in  society  and  in  the 
state,  and  to  which  the  faith  and  power  of  the  Gospel 
present  the  very  strongest  contrasts.  For  example, 
*  Christ  and  Other  Masters^  p.  182. 


8UCGE8SIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM    103 

while  Christianity  has  raised  woman  to  a  position 
of  respect  and  honor,  and  made  her  influence  felt  as 
something  sacred  and  potential  in  the  family  and  in 
all  society,  Hinduism  has  brought  her  down  even 
from  the  place  which  she  occupied  among  the  primi- 
tive Aryans,  to  an  ever-deepening  degradation.  It 
has  made  her  life  a  burden  and  a  curse.  Pundita 
Ramabai,  in  her  plea  for  high-caste  Hindu  women, 
quotes  a  prayer  of  a  child  widow  in  which  she  asks, 
"  O  Father  of  the  world,  hast  Thou  not  created  us  ? 
or  has  perchance  some  other  God  made  us  ?  Dost 
Thou  only  care  for  men?  O  Almighty  One,  hast 
Thou  not  power  to  make  us  other  than  we  are,  that 
we  too  may  have  some  part  in  the  blessings  of  life  ?  " 
Even  in  this  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  priesthood  of  Bengal  are  defending  against  all 
humane  legislation  those  old  customs  which  render 
the  girlhood  of  Hindu  women  a  living  death.* 

In  its  broad  influence  Christianity  has  raised  the 

*  Yet  in  spite  of  Manu  and  the  inveteracy  of  old  custom, 
there  gleams  here  and  there  in  Hindu  literature  and  history  a 
bright  ideal  of  woman's  character  and  rank  ;  while  the  Ramayana 
has  its  model  Sita,  the  Mahcd)harata,  i.,3028,  has  this  peerless 
sketch : 

*'  A  wife  is  half  the  man,  his  truest  friend  ; 

A  loving  wife  is  a  perpetual  spring- 

Of  virtue,  pleasure,  wealth ;  a  faithful  wife 

Is  his  best  aid  in  seeking  heavenly  bliss  ; 

A  sweetly-speaking  wife  is  a  companion 

In  solitude  ;  a  father  in  advice  ; 

A  mother  in  all  seasons  of  distress  ; 

A  rest  in  passing  through  life's  wilderness." 

This,  however,  is  a  pathetic  outburst :  the  tyranny  of  the  ages 
remains. 


104     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

once  savage  tribes  of  Europe  to  the  highest  degree 
of  culture,  and  made  them  leaders  and  rulers  of  the 
world ;  but  Hinduism  has  so  weakened  and  hum- 
bled the  once  conquering  Aryans  that  they  have  long 
been  an  easy  prey  to  every  invading  race.  Chris- 
tianity shows  in  its  sacred  Book  a  manifest  prog- 
ress from  lower  to  higher  moral  standards — from 
the  letter  to  the  spirit,  from  the  former  sins  that 
were  winked  at  to  the  perfect  example  of  Christ, 
from  the  narrow  exclusiveness  of  Judaism  to  the 
broad  and  all-embracing  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  from 
prophecy  to  fulfilment,  from  types  and  shadows  to 
the  full  light  of  Eedemption ;  the  sacred  books  of 
Hinduism  have  degenerated  from  the  lofty  aspira- 
tions of  the  Vedic  nature-worship  to  the  vileness  of 
Saktism,  from  the  noble  praises  of  Varuna  to  the 
low  sensuality  of  the  Tantras,  from  Vedic  concep- 
tions of  the  creation,  sublime  as  the  opening  of  St. 
John's  Gospel,  to  the  myths  of  the  divine  turtle  or 
the  boar,  or  the  escapades  of  the  supreme  and 
"  adorable  Krishna."  * 

Christianity  breaks  down  all  barriers  which  divide 
and  alienate  mankind,  and  establishes  a  universal 
brotherhood  in  Christ;  Hinduism  has  raised  the 
most  insurmountable  barriers  and  developed  the 
most  inexorable  social  tyranny  ever  inflicted  on  the 
human  race.  The  Hebrew  economy  also  recognized 
a  priestly  class,  but  they  were  chosen  from  among 

♦Even  in  the  later  development  of  the  doctrine  of  faith  (Bakti) 
Hinduism  fails  to  connect  with  it  any  moral  purification  or  ele- 
vation. See  quotations  from  Elphinstone  and  Wilson  in  Christ 
and  Other  MaaterSf  p.  334. 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM    105 

their  brethren  and  were  only  a  distinct  family ;  they 
made  no  claim  to  divine  lineage,  and  they  were  guilts 
less  of  social  tyranny. 

Christianity  enjoins  a  higher  and  purer  ethic  than 
it  has  ever  found  in  the  natural  moral  standards  of 
any  people  ;  it  aims  at  perfection ;  it  treats  the  least 
infraction  as  a  violation  of  the  whole  law ;  it  regards 
even  corrupt  thoughts  as  sins ;  it  bids  us  be  holy 
even  as  He  is  holy  in  whose  sight  the  heavens  are 
unclean.  Hinduism,  on  the  other  hand,  is  below  the 
ethical  standard  of  respectable  Hindu  society.  The 
better  classes  are  compelled  to  apologize  for  it  by 
asserting  that  that  which  is  debasing  in  men  may  be 
sinless  in  the  gods.  The  offences  of  Krishna  and 
Arjuna  would  not  be  condoned  in  mortals  ;  the  vile 
orgies  of  the  "  left-handed  worshippers "  of  Siva 
would  not  be  tolerated  but  for  their  religious  char- 
acter. The  murders  committed  by  the  Thugs  in 
honor  of  Kali  were  winked  at  only  because  a  goddess 
demanded  them.  The  naked  processions  of  Chai- 
tanya's  followers  would  be  dispersed  by  the  police 
anywhere  but  in  India. 

It  is  the  peculiar  distinction  of  India  that  it  has 
been  the  theatre  of  nearly  all  the  great  religions. 
Brahmanism,  Buddhism,  and  Mohammedanism  have 
all  made  trial  of  their  social  and  political  power  and 
have  failed.  Last  of  all  came  Christianity.  The 
systems  which  preceded  it  had  had  centuries  of  op- 
portunity ;  and  yet  Christianity  has  done  more  for 
the  elevation  of  Hindu  society  in  the  last  fifty  years 
than  they  had  accomplished  in  all  the  ages  of  their 
dominion.     Neither  Buddhism  nor  Mohammedanism 


106     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

had  made  any  serious  impression  on  caste ;  neither 
had  been  able  to  mitigate  the  wrongs  which  Brah- 
manism  had  heaped  upon  woman — Mohammedanism 
had  rather  increased  them.  The  horrors  of  the  satti 
and  the  murder  of  female  infants — those  bitterest 
'fruits  of  priestly  tyranny — were  left  unchecked  until 
the  British  Government,  inspired  by  missionary  in- 
fluence and  a  general  Christian  sentiment,  branded 
them  as  infamous  and  made  them  crimes.  But  now 
even  the  native  sentiment  of  the  better  classes  in 
India  is  greatly  changed  by  these  higher  influences, 
and  the  conventional  morality  is  rising  above  the 
teachings  of  the  national  religion.  Widow-burn- 
ing and  infanticide  belong  almost  wholly  to  the 
past.  Child-marriage  is  coming  into  disrepute,  and 
caste,  though  not  destroyed,  is  crippled,  and  its  pre- 
posterous assumptions  are  falling  before  the  march 
of  social  progress. 

Perhaps  the  very  highest  tribute  which  Hinduism 
has  paid  to  Christianity  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the 
modem  Arya  Somaj  has  borrowed  its  ethics  and 
some  of  its  religious  doctrines,  and  is  promulgating 
them  under  Yedic  labels  and  upon  Yedic  authority.* 
It  has  renounced  those  corruptions  of  Hinduism 
which  can  no  longer  bear  the  light — such  as  enforced 
widowhood  and  the  general  oppression  of  woman. 
It  denounces  the  incarnations  of  Vishnu  as  mere  in- 
ventions, and  therefore  cuts  up  by  the  roots  the 
whole  Krishna  cult  and  dissipates  the  glory  of  the 
Bhagavad  Gita.  It  abhors  polytheism,  and  not  only 
proclaims  the  supremacy  of  one  only  true  God,  self- 
*  See  a  recent  Catechism  published  bj  the  Ar^a  Somaj. 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM    107 

existent,  the  creator  and  upholder  of  all  things,  but 
it  maintains  that  such  was  the  teaching  of  the  Yedas. 
But  although  this  modem  eclectic  system  adopts 
the  whole  ethical  outcome  of  Christian  civilization 
in  India  for  its  own  purposes,  it  shows  a  most  un- 
compromising hostility  to  Christianity.  Though  it 
claims  to  be  positively  theistic,  it  seems  ready  to  en- 
ter into  alliance  with  any  form  of  atheism  or  agnos- 
ticism. Eastern  or  Western,  against  the  spread  of 
Christian  influence  in  India. 

In  speaking  of  the  movement  of  revived  Aryanism 
I  assume  that  with  the  more  intelligent  and  progres- 
sive classes  of  India  the  old  Hinduism  is  dead.  Of 
course,  millions  of  men  still  adhere  to  the  old  cor- 
ruptions. Millions  in  the  remoter  districts  would 
retain  the  festival  of  Juggernaut,  the  hook -swing- 
ing, even  infanticide  and  widow-burning,  if  they 
dared.  The  revolting  orgies  of  Kali  and  Doorga, 
and  the  vilest  forms  of  Siva  worship,  even  the  mur- 
derous rites  of  the  Thugs,  might  be  revived  by  the 
fanatical,  if  foreign  influence  were  withdrawn ;  but, 
taking  India  as  a  whole,  these  things  are  coming  to 
be  discarded.  The  people  are  ashamed  of  them  ; 
they  dare  not  undertake  to  defend  them  in  the  open 
day  of  the  present  civilization.  All  intelligent  Hin- 
dus are  persuaded  to  accept  the  situation,  and  look 
to  the  future  instead  of  the  past.  The  country  is 
full  of  new  influences  which  must  be  counted  as 
factors.  British  rule  is  there,  and  is  there  to  stay. 
Education  has  come — good,  bad,  and  indifferent. 
English  University  training  is  bringing  forward  a 
host  of  acute  thinkers  of  native  blood.     But  the 


108     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

forces  of  Western  infidelity  are  also  there,  grappling 
with  Western  Christianity  on  Indian  soil,  and  before 
the  eyes  of  the  conquered  and  still  sullen  people. 
The  vilest  of  English  books  and  the  worst  of  French 
novels  in  English  translations  are  in  the  markets. 
All  the  worst  phases  of  European  commerce  are  ex- 
hibited. The  opium  monopoly,  the  liquor  traffic, 
and  all  the  means  and  methods  of  unscrupulous 
money  -  getting,  with  the  wide -spread  example  of 
drinking  habits,  and  unboimded  luxury  and  extra- 
vagance. 

And,  in  opinions,  the  war  of  aggression  is  no 
longer  on  one  side  only.  While  the  foreigner  speaks 
and  writes  of  superstition,  of  heathenism,  of  abom- 
inable rites  now  passing  away,  the  native  Hindu 
press  is  equally  emphatic  in  its  condemnation  of 
what  it  calls  the  swinish  indulgence  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  his  beer-drinking  and  his  gluttony,  his  craze 
for  money  and  material  power,  his  disgust  at  philos- 
ophy and  all  intellectual  aspiration,  his  half-savage 
love  for  the  chase  and  the  destruction  of  animal  life. 
Educated  Hindus  throw  back  against  the  charge  of 
idolatry  our  idolatry  of  pelf,  which,  as  they  claim, 
eclipses  every  other  thought  and  aspiration,  leads  to 
dishonesty,  over-reaching,  and  manifold  crime,  and 
sinks  noble  ethics  to  the  low  level  of  expediency  or 
self-interest ;  the  conquest  is  not  yet  won. 

A  hundred  varieties  of  creed  have  sprung  up  be- 
neath this  banyan-tree  which  I  Have  called  Hindu- 
ism. There  are  worshippers  of  Vishnu,  of  Siva,  of 
Kali,  of  Krishna  as  Bacchus,  and  of  Krishna  as  the 
supreme  and  adorable  God.     There  are  Sikhs,  and 


SUCCESSIVE  DEVELOPMENTS  OF  HINDUISM    109 

Jains,  and  Buddhists ;  Theosophists,  Vedantic  Phi- 
losophers, Mohammedans,  Brahmos,  Parsees,  Evolu- 
tionists, and  Agnostics ;  Devil- worshippers,  and  wor- 
shippers of  ghosts  and  serpents  ;  but  in  considering 
these  as  forces  to  be  met  by  Christian  influence,  we 
must  regard  them  all  as  in  virtual  alliance  with  each 
other.  They  are  all  one  in  pride  of  race  and  of  ven- 
erable custom.  They  are  all  one  in  their  hatred  of 
foreign  dominion,  and  of  the  arrogance  and  over- 
bearing assumption  of  the  European.''^ 

The  Hindu  religions,  therefore,  however  divided, 
and  however  weak  and  moribund  they  may  be  taken 
singly,  find  a  real  vitality  in  the  imion  of  common 
interests,  in  the  sentiments  of  patriotism,  in  the 
pride  of  their  philosophy,  in  the  glory  of  their  an- 
cient history  as  .the  true  and  original  Aryans,  com- 
pared with  whom  Western  nations  are  mere  offshoots. 

*  The  following  hymn,  quoted  from  the  Arya  Catechism,  reveals 
the  proud  spirit  of  revived  Aryanism  : 

**  We  are  the  sons  of  brave  Aryas  of  yore, 
Those  sages  in  learning,  those  heroes  in  war. 
They  were  the  lights  of  great  nations  before, 
And  shone  in  that  darkness  like  morning's  bright  star, 
A  beacon  of  warning,  a  herald  from  far. 
Have  we  forgotten  our  Rama  and  Arjun, 
Yudistar  or  Bishma  or  Drona  the  Wise  ?  ' 

Are  not  we  sons  of  the  mighty  Duryodani  ? 
Where  did  Shankar  and  great  Dayananda  arise  ? 
*  In  India,  in  India  !'  the  echo  replies. 
Ours  the  glory  of  giving  the  world 
Its  science,  religion,  its  poetry  and  art. 
We  were  the  first  of  the  men  who  unfurled 
The  banner  of  freedom  on  earth's  every  part, 
Brought  tidings  of  peace  and  of  love  to  each  heart.*' 


110     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Their  religious  faith  is  mixed  and  involved  with 
patriotism,  politics,  and  race  prejudice,  and  on  the 
other  hand  Christianity  in  India  is  handicapped  by 
political  and  commercial  interest  and  a  hated  domi- 
nation. On  both  sides  these  combined  influences 
must  be  considered  in  estimating  the  future  issues  of 
the  great  conflict.  The  question  is  not  how  Chris- 
tianity and  Hinduism  would  fare  in  a  conflict  pure 
and  simple,  unembarrassed  by  complications,  but 
how  Christianity  with  its  drawbacks  is  likely  to  suc- 
ceed against  Hinduism  with  its  manifold  intrench- 
ments. 

But,  while  weighing  well  the  obstacles,  how  great 
are  the  encouragements !  What  an  auspicious  fact 
that  even  a  hostile  organization  has  appropriated 
the  Christian  cultus  bodily,  and  can  find  no  better 
weapons  than  its  blessed  truths.  Christianity  is  felt 
as  a  silent  power,  even  though  under  other  names. 
It  is,  after  all,  the  leaven  that  is  working  all-power- 
fully  in  India  to-day. 

There  was  a  period  in  the  process  of  creation  when 
light  beamed  dimly  upon  the  earth,  though  the  sun, 
its  source,  had  not  yet  appeared.  So  through  the 
present  Hinduism  there  is  a  haze  of  Christian  truth, 
though  the  Sun  of  Eighteousness  is  not  yet  acknowl- 
edged as  its  source. 

But  the  Spirit  of  God  broods  over  the  waters,  and 
the  true  Light  of  the  world  wiU  break  on  India. 


LECTUKE  IV. 

THE  BHAGAVAD  GITA  AND  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 

No  other  portion  of  Hindu  literature  has  made 
so  great  an'  impression  on  Western  minds  as  the 
Bhagavad  Gita,  "  The  Lord's  Lay,"  or  the  "  Song  of 
the  Adorable."  It  has  derived  its  special  impor- 
tance from  its  supposed  resemblance  to  the  New 
Testament.  And  as  it  claims  to  be  much  older  than 
the  oldest  of  the  Gospels  or  the  Epistles,  it  carries 
the  inference  that  the  latter  may  have  borrowed 
something  from  it. 

A  plausible  translation  has  been  published  in 
Boston  by  Mr.  Mohini  M.  Chatterji,  who  devoutly 
believes  this  to  be  the  revealed  word  of  the  Supreme 
Creator  and  Upholder  of  the  universe.*  He  admits 
that  at  a  later  day  "  the  same  God,  worshipped  alike 
by  Hindus  and  Christians,  appeared  again  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  that  "  in  the  Bible  He 
revealed  HimseK  to  Western  nations,  as  the  Bhag- 
avad Gita  had  proclaimed  Him  to  the  people  of  the 
East."  And  he  draws  the  inference  that  "  If  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Brahmans  and  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Jews  and  Christians,  widely  separated  as  they 
are  by  age  and  nationality,  are  but  different  names 

*  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  1889. 


112     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

for  one  and  the  same  truth,  who  can  then  say  that 
the  Scriptures  contradict  each  other  ?  A  careful  and 
reverent  collation  of  the  two  sets  of  Scriptures  will 
show  forth  the  conscious  and  intelligent  design  of 
revelation."  The  fact  that  the  Bhagavad  Gita  is 
thoroughly  pantheistic,  while  the  Bible  emphasizes 
the  personality  of  God  in  fellowship  with  the  dis- 
tinct personality  of  human  souls,  seems  to  interpose 
no  serious  difficulty  in  Mr.  Chatterji's  view,  since  he 
says  " '  The  Lord's  Lay '  is  for  philosophic  minds, 
and  therefore  deals  more  at  length  with  the  myste- 
ries of  the  being  of  God."  "  In  the  Bhagavad  Gita," 
he  says,  "  consisting  of  seven  hundred  and  seventy 
verses,  the  principal  topic  is  the  being  of  God, 
while  scarcely  the  same  amount  of  exposition  is 
given  to  it  in  the  whole  Bible ;  "  and  he  adds,  "  The 
explanation  of  this  remarkable  fact  is  found  in  the 
difference  between  the  genius  of  the  Hebrew  and  the 
Brahman  race,  and  also  in  the  fact  that  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  Christ  were  addressed  to  *  the  common 
people.' "  * 

The  air  of  intellectual  superiority  which  is  couched 
in  these  words  is  conspicuous.  Mr.  Chatterji  also 
finds  an  inner  satisfaction  in  what  he  considers  the 
broad  charity  of  the  Brahmanical  Scriptures.  He 
quotes  a  passage  from  the  Narada  Pancharata  which 
speaks  of  the  Buddha  as  "the  preserver  of  revela- 
tion for  those  outside  of  the  Vedic  authority."  And 
he  concludes  that  when  one  such  revealer  is  ad- 
mitted there  can  be  no  reason  for  excluding  others ; 

*  The  author  seems  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the  chief  excellence 
of  an  evangel  to  lost  men  is  that  it  appeals  to  the 


BHAGAVAD  GIT  A  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     113 

therefore  Christianity  also  should  be  allowed  a 
place.  He  declares  on  Vedic  authority  that  whoso- 
ever receives  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  however 
revealed,  attains  eternal  life.  And  for  a  parallel 
to  this  he  quotes  the  saying  of  Christ,  that  "  this 
is  eternal  life  that  they  might  know  Thee  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent." 
"The  Brahmanical  Scriptures,"  he  says,  "are  of 
one  accord  in  teaching  that  when  the  heart  is  pu- 
rified God  is  seen;  so  also  Jesus  Christ  declares 
that  the  pure  in  heart  are  blessed,  for  they  shall  see 
God." 

Our  translator  discards  the  often-repeated  theory 
that  the  Christian  Scriptures  have  copied  the  wise 
sayings  of  Krishna ;  and  it  is  very  significant  that  an 
argument  to  which  superficial  apologists  constantly 
resort  is  discarded  by  this  real  Hindu,  as  he  sup- 
ports the  theory  that  as  both  were  direct  revelations 
from  Vishnu,  there  was  in  his  view  no  need  of  bor- 
rowing. His  contention  is  that  God,  who  "  at  sun- 
dry times  and  in  divers  manners"  has  spoken  to 
men  in  different  ages,  made  known  his  truth,  and 
essentially  the  same  truth,  both  on  the  plains  of 
India  and  in  Judea.  And  he  reminds  Hindus  and 
Christians  alike,  that  this  knowledge  of  truth  carries 
with  itself  an  increased  responsibility.  He  says  : 
"  The  man  who  sees  the  wonderful  workings  of  the 
Spirit  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  bringing  each 
people  to  God  by  ways  unknown  to  others,  is 
thereby  charged  with  a  duty.  To  him  with  terrible 
precision  applies  the  warning  given  by  Gamaliel  to 
the  Pharisees,  *  Take  heed  to  yourselves  what  ye  in- 
8 


114     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

tend  to  do  .  .  .  lest  ye  be  found  to  fight  even 
against  God.'  If  one  be  a  Brahman,  let  him  reflect 
when  opposing  the  religion  of  Jesus  what  it  is  that 
he  fights.  The  truths  of  Christianity  are  the  same 
as  those  on  which  his  own  salvation  depends.  How 
can  he  be  a  lover  of  truth,  which  is  God,  if  he  knows 
not  his  beloved  under  such  a  disguise  ?  And  if  he 
penetrates  behind  the  veil,  which  should  tend  only 
to  increase  the  ardor  of  his  love,  he  cannot  hate 
those  who  in  obedience  to  the  same  truth  are  preach- 
ing the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  all  nations.  Indeed 
he  ought  to  rejoice  at  his  brothers'  devotion  to  the 
self-same  God,  and  to  see  that  he  is  rendering  ser- 
vice to  Him  by  helping  others  to  carry  out  the  be- 
hests given  to  them  by  the  Divine  Master.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  be  a  Christian,  let  him  remem- 
ber that  while  he  is  commanded  to  preach  repent- 
ance and  remission  of  sins  in  the  Saviour  Jesus,  he 
is  also  warned  against  'teaching  for  doctrines  the 
commandments  of  men.' "  All  this  seems  like  charity, 
but  really  it  is  laxity. 

And  here  is  the  very  essence  of  Hinduism.  Its 
chief  characteristic,  that  which  renders  it  so  hard  to 
combat,  is  its  easy  indifference  to  all  distinctions. 
To  reason  with  it  is  like  grasping  a  jelly-fish.  Its 
pantheism,  which  embraces  all  things,  covers  all 
sides  of  all  questions.  It  sees  no  difficulties  even 
between  things  which  are  morally  opposites.  Con- 
tradictions are  not  obstacles,  and  both  sides  of  a  di- 
lemma may  be  harmonized.  And  to  a  great  extent 
this  same  vagueness  of  conviction  characterizes  all 
the  heathen  systems  of  the  East.     The  Buddhists 


BRAOAVAD  QITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     115 

and  the  Shintoists  in  Japan  justify  their  easy-going 
partnership  by  the  favorite  maxim  that,  while  "  there 
are  many  paths  by  which  men  climb  the  sides  of 
Fusyama,  yet  upon  reaching  the  summit  they  all  be- 
hold the  same  glorious  moon."  The  question  wheth- 
er all  do  in  fact  reach  the  summit  is  one  which  does 
not  occur  to  an  Oriental  to  ask. 

This  same  pantheistic  charity  is  seen  in  the  well- 
known  appeal  of  the  late  Chunder  Sen,  which  as  an 
illustration  is  worth  repeating  here :  "  Cheshub  Chun- 
der Sen,  servant  of  God,  called  to  be  an  apostle  of 
the  Church  of  the  New  Dispensation,  which  is  in  the 
holy  city  of  Calcutta ;  to  all  the  great  nations  of  the 
world  and  to  the  chief  religious  sects  in  the  East  and 
West,  to  the  followers  of  Moses  and  of  Jesus,  of 
Buddha,  Confucius,  Zoroaster,  Mohammed,  Nanak, 
and  of  the  various  Hindu  sects  ;  grace  be  to  you  and 
peace  everlasting.  "Whereas  sects,  discords,  and 
strange  schisms  prevail  in  our  father's  family ;  and 
whereas  this  setting  of  brother  against  brother  has 
proved  the  prolific  source  of  evil,  it  has  pleased  God 
to  send  into  the  world  a  message  of  peace  and  recon- 
ciliation. This  New  Dispensation  He  has  vouch- 
safed to  us  in  the  East,  and  we  have  been  commanded 
to  bear  witness  to  the  nations  of  the  earth.  .  .  . 
Thus  saith  the  Lord :  *  I  abominate  sects  and  desire 
love  and  concord.  ...  I  have  at  sundry  times 
spoken  through  my  prophets  and  my  many  dis- 
pensations. There  is  unity.  There  is  one  music 
but  many  instruments,  one  body  but  many  members, 
one  spirit  but  many  gifts,  one  blood  but  many  na- 
tions, one  Church  but  many  churches.    Let  Asia  and 


116     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Europe  and  America  and  all  nations  prove  this  New 
Dispensation  and  the  true  fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  men.' " 

This  remarkable  production — so  Pauline  in  style 
and  so  far  from  Paul  in  doctrine — seems  to  possess 
everything  except  definite  and  robust  conviction. 
And  its  limp  philosophy  was  not  sufficient  to  with- 
hold even  Chunder  Sen  himseK  from  the  abandon- 
ment of  his  principles  not  long  afterward.  This 
sweet  perfume  of  false  charity,  with  which  he  thus 
gently  sprayed  the  sects  and  nations  of  mankind,  lost 
its  flavor  ere  the  ink  of  his  message  was  fairly  dry ; 
while  he  who  in  similar  language  announced  his  call 
to  ail  Apostleship  eighteen  centuries  ago,  is  still  turn- 
ing the  world  upside  down. 

^  "  Charity "  is  the  watchword  of  indifferentism  in 
the  West  as  well  as  in  the  East ;  and  the  East  and 
the  West  are  joining  hands  in  their  effort  to  soothe 
the  world  into  slumber  with  all  its  sins  and  woes  un- 
healed. Some  months  ago  an  advanced  Unitarian 
from  Boston  delivered  a  farewell  address  to  the 
Buddhists  of  Japan,  in  which  he  presented  three 
great  Unitarians  of  New  England — Channing,  Emer- 
son, and  Parker — in  a  sort  of  transfiguration  of  gen- 
tleness and  charity.  He  maintained  that  the  lives 
of  these  men  had  been  an  unconscious  prophecy  of 
that  mild  and  gentle  Buddhism  which  he  had  found 
in  Japan,  but  of  which  they  had  died  without  the 
sight.* 

Thus  the  transcendentalism  of  New  England  joins 
hands  with  the  Buddhism  and  the  Shintoism  of  Ja- 
♦  Address  published  in  the  Japan  Mail,  1890. 


BHAQAVAD   QITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     117 

pan,  and  the  Brahmanism  of  Calcutta,  and  all  are  in 
accord  with  Mr.  Chatterji  and  the  Bhagavad  Gita. 
Even  the  Theosophists  profess  their  sympathy  with 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  claim  Christ  as  an 
earlier  prophet.  The  one  refrain  of  all  is  "  Charity." 
All  great  teachers  are  avatars  of  Vishnu.  The  globe 
is  belted  with  this  multiform  indifferentism,  and  I 
am  sorry  to  say  that  it  is  largely  the  gospel  of  the 
current  literature  and  of  the  daily  press.  In  it  all 
there  is  no  Saviour  and  no  salvation.  Beligions  are 
all  ethnic  and  local,  while  the  ignis  fatuus  of  a  mystic 
pantheism  pervades  the  world. 

Mr.  Chatterji's  preface  closes  with  a  prayer  to 
the  "  merciful  Father  of  humanity  to  remove  from  all 
races  of  men  every  unbrotherly  feeling  in  the  sacred 
name  of  religion,  which  is  but  one."  The  prayer 
were  touching  and  beautiful  on  the  assumption  that 
there  were  no  differences  between  truth  and  error. 
And  there  are  thousands,  even  among  us,  who  are 
asking,  "  Why  may  not  Christians  respond  to  this 
broad  charity,  and  admit  this  Hindu  eclectic  poem 
to  an  equal  place  with  the  New  Testament  ?  "  More 
or  less  indifferent  to  all  religions,  and  failing  to 
understand  the  real  principles  on  which  they  sever- 
ally rest,  they  are  ready  to  applaud  a  challenge  like 
that  which  we  are  considering,  and  to  contrast  it 
with  the  alleged  narrowness  and  intolerance  of 
Christian  Theism. 

I  have  dwelt  thus  at  length  upon  Mr.  Chatterji's 
introduction,  and  have  illustrated  it  by  references  to 
similar  specious  claims  of  other  faiths,  in  order  that 
I  might  bring  into  clearer  view  the  main  issue  which 


118     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

this  book  now  presents  to  the  American  public.  It 
is  the  softest,  sweetest  voice  yet  given  to  that  gospel 
of  false  charity  which  is  the  fashion  of  our  times. 
Emerson  and  others  caught  it  from  afar  and  dis- 
coursed to  a  generation  now  mostly  gone  of  the 
gentle  maxims  of  Confucius,  Krishna,  and  Gautama. 
But  now  Krishna  is  among  us  in  the  person  of  his 
most  devout  apostle,  and  a  strange  hand  of  fellow- 
ship is  stretched  out  toward  us  from  the  land  of  the 
Vedas. 

It  behooves  us  to  inquire,  first,  into  the  pantheistic 
philosophy  which  underlies  these  sayings,  and  to 
ask  for  their  meaning  as  applied  in  real  life;  and 
second,  we  shall  need  to  know  something  of  Krishna, 
and  whether  he  speaks  as  one  having  authority. 
It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  pantheism  sacri- 
fices nothing  whatever  by  embracing  all  religions, 
since  even  false  religions  are  a  worship  of  Yishnu  in 
their  way,  while  Christianity  by  its  very  nature  would 
sacrifice  everything.  According  to  pantheism  all 
things  that  exist,  and  all  events  that  transpire,  are 
expressions  of  the  Divine  will.  The  one  only  ex- 
istent Being  embraces  all  causes  and  all  effects,  all 
truth  and  all  falsehood.  He  is  no  more  the  source  of 
good  than  of  evil.  "  I  am  immortality,"  says  Krishna. 
"  I  am  also  death."  Man  with  all  his  thoughts  and 
acts  is  but  the  shadow  of  God,  and  moves  as  he  is 
moved  upon.  Arjuna's  divine  counsellor  says  to 
him  :  "  The  soul,  existing  from  eternity,  devoid  of 
qualities,  imperishable,  abiding  in  the  body,  yet  su- 
preme, acts  not  nor  is  by  any  act  polluted.  He  who 
perceives  that   actions  are  performed  by   Prakriti 


BEAGAVAD  OITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     119 

alone,  and  that  the  soul  is  not  an  actor,  sees  the 
truth  aright." 

Now,  if  this  reasoning  be  correct,  it  is  not  we  that 
sin  ;  not  we  that  worship  ;  and  in  the  last  analysis 
all  religions  are  alike ;  they  are  only  the  varied  ex- 
pressions of  the  thought  of  God.  As  He  manifests 
his  power  in  nature  in  a  thousand  forms,  producing 
some  objects  that  are  beautiful  to  the  eye  and  others 
that  are  repulsive,  so  in  his  spiritual  manifestations 
He  displays  a  like  variety.  The  ignorance  and  deg- 
radation of  fetichism  are  His,  as  well  as  the  highest 
revelations  of  spiritual  truth.  A  certain  class  of 
evolutionists  tell  us  that  God  contrived  the  serpent's 
poison-fang  and  the  mother's  tender  instinct  with 
"the  same  creative  indifference."  And  the  broad 
pantheism  which  overrides  the  distinctions  of  eter- 
nal right  and  wrong,  and  divests  God  of  all  moral 
discriminations,  puts  Yedantism  and  Fetichism, 
Christianity  and  Witchcraft,  upon  the  same  basis. 
The  Bhagavad  Gita  and  the  Gospel  both  enjoin 
the  brotherhood  of  men,  but  what  are  the  meaaiings 
which  they  give  to  this  term  ?  "What  are  their  aims, 
respectively?  One  is  endeavoring  to  enforce  the 
rigid  and  insurmountable  barriers  of  caste ;  the 
other  commends  a  mission  of  love  which  shall  regard 
neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond 
nor  free.  It  will  become  apparent,  I  think,  that  there 
may  be  parallels  or  similarities  which  relate  to  mere 
phrases  while  their  meanings  are  wide  apart. 

Judging  from  Mr.  Chatterji's  own  stand-point,  his 
work  has  been  well  done.  He  has  shown  a  careful 
study  not  only  of  his  own  literatures  and  philoso- 


120     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

phies,  but  also  of  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament — in  this  respect  setting  us  an  example 
worthy  to  be  followed  by  Christian  scholars.  Such 
a  man  has  in  the  outset  an  immense  advantage  over 
those  who  know  nothing  of  the  enemies'  positions, 
but  regard  them  only  with  disdain.  Before  the  high 
court  of  public  opinion,  as  represented  by  our  current 
literature,  mere  ex-parte  assumption  will  go  to  the 
wall,  even  though  it  has  the  better  cause,  while  adroit 
error,  intelligently  put  and  courteously  commended, 
will  win  the  day.  This  is  a  lesson  which  the  Chris- 
tian Church  greatly  needs  to  learn.  Mr.  Chatterji's 
work  is  the  more  formidable  for  its  charming  graces 
of  style.  He  has  that  same  facility  and  elegance  in 
the  use  of  the  English  language  for  which  so  many 
of  his  countrymen,  Sheshadri,  Bose,  Banergea,  Chun- 
der  Sen,  Mozoomdar,  and  others  have  been  distin- 
guished. He  is  a  model  of  courtesy,  and  he  seems 
sincere. 

But  turning  from  the  translator  to  the  book  itself, 
we  shall  now  inquire  who  was  Krishna,  Arjuna's 
friend,  what  was  the  origin  of  the  "  Lord's  Lay,"  and 
what  are  its  real  merits  as  compared  with  the  New 
Testament  ?  Krishna  and  Ar  juna — like  Bama  Chan- 
dra—  were  real  human  heroes  who  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  wars  of  the  Indo- Aryans  with  rival 
tribes  who  contested  the  dominion  of  Northern  India. 
They  did  not  live  three  thousand  years  before  Christ, 
as  our  translator  declares,  for  they  belonged  to  the 
soldier  caste,  and  according  to  the  consensus  of  Ori- 
ental scholarship  the  system  of  caste  did  not  exist 
till  about  the  beginning  of  the  Brahmanic  period — 


BffAGAVAD  GITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     121 

say  eight  hundred  years  before  Christ.  Krishna  was 
born  in  the  Punjab,  near  Merut,  and  it  was  near  there 
that  his  chief  exploits  were  performed.  The  legends 
represent  him  as  a  genial  but  a  reckless  forester^ 
brave  on  the  battle-field,  but  leading  a  life  of  low  in^ 
diligence.  The  secret  of  his  power  lay  in  his  sym- 
pathy. His  worship,  even  as  a  heroic  demi-god, 
brought  a  new  and  welcome  element  into  Hinduism 
as  contrasted  with  the  remorselessness  of  Siva  or 
the  cold  indifference  of  Brahma.  It  was  the  dawn 
of  a  doctrine  of  faith,  and  in  this  character  it  was 
probably  of  later  date  than  the  rise  of  Buddhism. 
Indeed,  the  Brahmans  learned  this  lesson  of  the 
value  of  Divine  sympathy  from  the  Buddha.  The 
supernatural  element  ascribed  to  Krishna,  as  well  as 
to  Eama,  was  a  growth,  and  had  its  origin  in  the 
jealousy  of  the  Brahmans  toward  the  warrior  caste. 
His  exaltation  as  the  Supreme  was  an  after-thought 
of  the  inventive  Brahmans.  As  stated  in  a  former 
lecture,  these  heroes  had  acquired  great  renown  ;  and 
their  exploits  were  the  glory  and  delight  of  the  daz- 
zled populace.  In  raising  them  to  the  rank  of  deities, 
and  as  such  appropriating  them  as  kindred  to  the  di- 
vine Brahmans,  the  shrewd  priesthood  saved  the  pres- 
tige of  their  caste  and  aggrandized  their  system  by  a 
fully  developed  doctrine  of  incarnations.  Thus,  by  a 
growth  of  centuries,  the  Krishna  cult  finally  crowned 
the  Hindu  system. 

The  Mahabharata,  in  which  the  Bhagavad  Gita 
was  incorporated  by  some  author  whose  name  is  un- 
known, is  an  immense  literary  mosaic  of  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  lines.    It  is  heterogene- 


122     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ous,  grotesque,  inconsistent,  and  often  contradictory 
— qualities  which  are  scarcely  considered  blemishes 
in  Hindu  literature. 

The  Bhagavad  Gita  was  incorporated  as  a  part 
of  this  great  epic  probably  as  late  as  the  second  or 
third  century  of  our  era,  and  by  that  time  Krishna 
had  come  to  be  regarded  as  divine,  though  his  full 
and  extravagant  deification  as  the  "  Adorable  One  " 
probably  did  not  appear  till  the  author  of  "  Narada 
Pancharata"  of  the  eighth  century  had  added  what- 
ever he  thought  the  original  author  should  have  said 
five  centuries  before.  As  it  now  stands  the  poem 
very  cleverly  weaves  into  one  fabric  many  lofty 
aphorisms  borrowed  from  the  Upanishads  and  the 
later  philosophic  schools,  upon  the  groimdwork  of  a 
popular  story  of  which  Arjuna  is  the  hero.  Arjuna 
and  his  four  brothers  are  about  to  engage  in  a  great 
battle  with  their  cousins  for  the  possession  of  an  he- 
reditary throne.  The  divine  Krishna,  once  himself 
a  hero,  becomes  Arjuna's  charioteer,  that  in  that  ca- 
pacity he  may  act  as  his  counsellor.  As  the  battle 
array  is  formed,  Arjima  is  seized  with  misgivings  at 
the  thought  of  slaughtering  his  kindred  for  the  glory 
of  a  sceptre.  "  I  cannot — will  not  fight,"  he  says  ; 
"  I  seek  not  victory,  I  seek  no  kingdom ;  what  shall 
we  do  with  regal  pomp  and  power?  what  with  enjoy- 
ments, or  with  life  itself,  when  we  have  slaughtered 
all  our  kindred  here  ?  " 

Krishna  then  enters  upon  a  long  discourse  upon 
the  duties  of  caste  and  the  indwelling  of  the  Infin- 
ite, showing  that  the  soul,  which  is  a  part  of  deity, 
cannot  be  slain  though  the  body  may  be  hewn  to 


BEAGAVAD  QITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     123 

pieces.  "  The  wise,"  he  says,  "  grieve  not  for  the 
departed  nor  for  those  who  yet  survive.  Never  was 
the  time  when  I  was  not,  nor  thou,  nor  yonder 
chiefs,  and  never  shall  be  the  time  when  all  of  us 
shall  not  be.  As  the  embodied  soul  in  this  corpo- 
real frame  moves  swiftly  on  through  boyhood,  youth, 
and  age,  so  will  it  pass  through  other  forms  hereaf- 
ter ;  be  not  grieved  thereat.  ...  As  men  aban- 
don old  and  threadbare  clothes  to  put  on  others  new, 
so  casts  the  embodied  soul  its  worn-out  frame  to  en- 
ter other  forms.  No  dart  can  pierce  it ;  flame  can- 
not consume  it,  water  wet  it  not,  nor  scorching 
breezes  dry  it — indestructible,  eternal,  all-pervading, 
deathless."  * 

It  may  seem  absurd  to  Western  minds  that  a  long 
discourse,  which  constitutes  a  volume  of  intricate  pan- 
theistic philosophy,  should  be  given  to  a  great  com- 
mander just  at  the  moment  when  he  is  planning  his 
attack  and  is  absorbed  with  the  most  momentous  re- 
sponsibilities ;  it  seems  to  us  strangely  inconsistent 
also  to  expatiate  elaborately  upon  the  merits  of  the 
Yoga  philosophy,  with  its  asceticism  and  its  holy 
torpor,  when  the  real  aim  is  to  arouse  the  soul  to 
ardor  for  the  hour  of  battle.  But  these  infelicities 
are  no  obstacle  to  the  Hindu  mind,  and  the  consist- 
ency of  the  plot  is  entirely  secondary  to  the  doctrine 
of  caste  and  of  philosophy  which  the  author  makes 
Krishna  proclaim.  Gentle  as  many  of  its  precepts 
are,  the  Bhagavad  Gita,  or  the  "  Lord's  Lay,"  is  a 

*  There  is  scarcelj  another  passage  in  all  Hindu  literature  which 
is  so  full  of  half-truths  as  this,  or  which  turns  the  sublime  powers 
of  the  human  POul  to  so  unworthy  a  purpose. 


124     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

battle-song  uttered  by  the  Supreme  Being  while  the 
contending  hosts  awaited  the  signal  for  fratricidal 
carnage.  —     —  — ^-^ 

The  grotesqueness  which  characterizes  all  Hindu 
literature  is  not  wanting  in  this  story  of  Krishna 
and  Arjuna,  as  given  in  the  great  poem  of  which  the 
Bhagavad  Gita  forms  a  part.  The  five  sons  of 
Pandu  are  representatives  of  the  principle  of  right- 
eousness, while  the  hundred  brothers  of  the  rival 
branch  are  embodiments  of  evil.  Yet,  when  the 
victory  had  been  gained  and  the  sceptre  was  given 
to  the  sons  of  Pandu,  they  despised  it  and  courted 
death,  though  the  "  Adorable  One  "  had  urged  them 
on  to  strife. 

Bishma,  the  leader  of  the  hostile  force,  in  a  per- 
sonal encounter  with  Arjuna,  had  been  filled  so  full 
of  darts  that  he  could  neither  stand  nor  lie  down. 
Every  part  of  his  body  was  bristling  with  arrows, 
and  for  fifty-eight  days  he  lingered,  leaning  on  their 
sharp  points.  Meanwhile  the  eldest  of  the  victors, 
finding  his  throne  only  a  "  delusion  and  a  snare,"  and 
being  filled  with  remorse,  was  urged  by  Krishna  to 
visit  his  unfortunate  adversary  and  receive  instruc- 
tion and  comfort.  Bishma,  lying  upon  his  bed  of 
spikes,  edified  him  with  a  series  of  long  and  tedious 
discourses  on  pantheistic  philosophy,  after  which  he 
asked  the  tender-hearted  Krishna  for  permission  to 
depart.  He  is  no  longer  the  embodiment  of  evil :  the 
cruel  arrows  with  which  the  ideal  of  goodness  had 
pierced  him  fall  away,  the  top  of  his  head  opens,  and 
his  spirit  soars  to  heaven  shining  like  a  meteor. 
How  strange  a  reversal  is  here  !     How  strange  that 


BHAGAVAD  QITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     125 

he  who  had  been  the  representative  of  all  evil  should 
have  been  transformed  by  his  suffering,  and  should 
have  been  made  to  instruct  and  comfort  the  man  of 
success. 

Mr.  Chatterji  falls  into  a  fatal  inconsistency  when, 
in  spite  of  his  assumption  that  this  poem  is  the  very 
word  of  Krishna  spoken  at  a  particular  time,  in  a  par- 
ticular place,  he  informs  us  that  "  all  Indian  authori- 
ties agree  in  pronouncing  it  to  be  the  essence  of  all 
sacred  writings.  They  call  it  an  Upanishad — a  term 
applied  to  the  wisdom,  as  distinguished  from  the 
ceremonial,  part  of  the  Vedas,  and  to  no  book  less 
sacred."  More  accurately  he  might  have  said  that 
it  is  a  compend  of  all  Hindu  literatures,  the  tradi- 
tional as  well  as  the  inspired,  and  with  a  much  larger 
share  of  the  former  than  of  the  latter.  Pantheism, 
which  is  its  quintessence,  did  not  exist  in  the  early 
Vedic  times.  Krishna  was  not  known  as  a  god  even 
in  the  period  of  the  Buddha.*  And  the  Epics,  which 
are  so  largely  drawn  upon,  are  later  still.  And  it  is 
upon  the  basis  of  the  Epics,  and  the  still  later  Pura- 
nas,  that  the  common  people  of  India  still  worship 
him  as  the  god  of  good-fellowship  and  of  lust.  The 
masses  longed  for  a  god  of  human  sympathies,  even 
though  he  were  a  Bacchus. 

In  the  Bhagavad  Gita  as  we  now  have  it,  with  its 
many  changes,  Krishna  has  become  the  supreme  God, 
though  according  to  Lassen  his  actual  worship  as 
such  was  not  rendered  earlier  than  the  sixth  century ; 
and  Professor  Banergea  claims  that  it  "  was  not  at 

*  In  an  enumeration  of  Hindu  gods  made  in  Buddha's  time 
Krishna  does  not  appear. 


126     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

its  zenith  till  the  eighth  century,  and  that  it  then 
borrowed  much  from  Christian,  or  at  least  Hebrew, 
sources."  Webber  and  Lorinser  have  maintained  a 
similar  view.  Krishna  as  the  Supreme  and  Ador- 
able One  has  never  found  favor  except  with  the 
pantheists,  and  to  this  day  the  worship  of  the  real 
Krishna  as  a  Bacchus  is  the  most  popular  of  all 
Hindu  festivals,  and  naturally  it  is  the  most  demor- 
alizing. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  assume  that  the  panthe- 
istic groundwork  of  the  poem  on  the  one  hand,  and 
its  borrowed  Christian  conceptions  and  Christian  no- 
menclature on  the  other,  will  explain  its  principal  al- 
leged parallels  with  the  New  Testament.  With  his 
great  familiarity  with  our  Bible,  and  his  rare  ability 
in  adjusting  shades  of  thought  and  expression,  Mr. 
Chatterji  has  presented  no  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fourteen  passages  which  he  matches  with  texts  from 
the  Bible.  Many  of  these  are  so  adroitly  worded 
that  one  not  familiar  with  the  peculiarities  of  Hindu 
philosophy  might  be  stumbled  by  the  comparisons. 
Mr.  E.  C.  Bose  tells  us  that  this  poem  has  wrought 
much  evil  among  the  foreign  population  of  India; 
and  in  this  country  there  are  thousands  of  even  cul- 
tivated people  with  whom  this  new  translation  will 
have  great  influence.  Men  with  unsettled  minds 
who  have  turned  away  with  contempt  from  the  cru- 
dities of  spiritualism,  who  are  disgusted  with  the 
rough  assailments  of  Ingersoll,  and  who  find  only 
homesickness  and  desolation  on  the  bleak  and  win- 
try moor  of  agnostic  science,  may  yet  be  attracted 
by  a  book  which  is  so  elevated  and  often  sublime  in 


BHAGAVAD  GITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     127 

its  philosophy,  and  so  chaste  in  its  ethical  precepts, 
and  which,  like  Christianity,  has  bridged  the  awful 
chasm  between  unapproachable  deity  and  our  human 
conditions  and  wants  by  giving  to  the  world  a  God- 
man. 

If  the  original  author  and  the  various  expositors 
of  the  Bhagavad  Gita  have  not  borrowed  from  the 
Christian  revelation,  they  have  rendered  an  unde- 
signed tribute  to  the  great  Christian  doctrine  of  a 
divine  and  human  mediator  :  they  have  given  strik- 
ing evidence  of  a  felt  want  in  all  humanity  of  a  God 
with  men.  If  it  was  a  deeply  conscious  want  of  the 
human  heart  which  led  the  heathen  of  distant  In- 
dia to  grope  their  way  from  the  cheerless  service  of 
remorseless  deities  to  one  who  could  be  touched 
with  a  feeling  of  their  infirmities,  and  could  walk 
these  earthly  paths  as  a  counsellor  by  their  side, 
how  striking  is  the  analogy  to  essential  Christian 
truth! 

Let  us  examine  some  of  the  alleged  parallels. 
They  may  be  divided  into  three  classes  : 

1.  Those  which  are  merely  fanciful.  Nine-tenths 
of  the  whole  number  are  of  this  class.  They  are 
such  as  would  never  occur  to  a  Hindu  on  hearing, 
the  gospel  truth.  Only  one  who  had  examined  the 
two  records  in  the  keen  search  for  parallels,  and 
whose  wish  had  been  the  father  of  his  thought,  would 
have  seen  any  resemblance.  I  shall  not  occupy  much 
time  with  these. 

2.  Those  resemblances  which  are  only  accidental. 
It  may  be  an  accident  of  similar  circumstances  or 
similar  causes ;  it  may  be  a  chance  resemblance  in 


128     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

the  words  employed,  while  there  is  no  resemblance 
in  the  thoughts  expressed. 

3.  Those  coincidences  which  spring  from  natural 
causes.  For  an  example  of  these,  the  closing  chap- 
ter of  the  Apocalypse  speaks  of  Christ  as  "  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  End."  It  is 
a  natural  expression  to  indicate  his  supreme  power 
and  glory  as  Creator  and  final  Judge  of  all  things. 
In  a  similar  manner  Krishna  is  made  to  say,  "  I  am 
Beginning,  Middle,  End,  Eternal  Time,  the  Birth 
and  the  Death  of  all.  I  am  the  symbol  A  among 
the  characters.  I  have  created  all  things  out  of  one 
portion  of  myseK."  There  are  two  meanings  in 
Krishna's  words.  He  is  in  all  things  pantheistically, 
and  he  is  the  first  and  best  of  all  things.  In  the 
tenth  chapter  he  names  with  great  particularity  sixty- 
six  classes  of  things  in  which  he  is  always  the  first : 
the  first  of  elephants,  horses,  trees,  kings,  heroes, 
etc.  "  Among  letters  I  am  the  vowel  A."  "  Among 
seasons  I  am  spring."  "  Of  the  deceitful  I  am  the 
dice." 

The  late  Dr.  Mullens  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  Orphic  Hymns  declare  "  Zeus  to  be  the  first 
and  Zeus  the  last.  Zeus  is  the  head  and  Zeus  the 
centre."  In  these  three  similar  forms  of  description 
one  common  principle  of  supremacy  rules.  The  dif- 
ference is  that  in  the  Christian  revelation  and  in  the 
Orphic  Hymns  there  is  dignity,  while  in  Krishna's 
discourse  there  is  frivolous  and  vulgar  particularity. 
Let  us  notice  a  few  examples  of  the  alleged  paral- 
lels more  particularly. 

In  Chapter  IX.  Krishna  says :  "  Whatever  thou 


BHAGAVAD  QITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     129 

doest,  whatever  thou  eatest,  whatever  thou  offerest  m 
sacrifice,  etc.,  commit  that  to  me."  This  is  compared 
with  1  Corinthians  x.  31 :  "  Whether  therefore  ye  eat 
or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of 
God."  Also  to  Colossians  x.  17  :  "  Whatsoever  ye  do 
in  word  or  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 
Even  if  there  were  no  pantheistic  differential  at 
the  foundation  of  these  utterances,  it  would  not  be 
at  all  strange  if  exhortations  to  an  all-embracing  de- 
votion should  thus  in  each  case  be  made  to  cover  all 
the  daily  acts  of  life.  But  aside  from  this  there  is  a 
wide  difference  in  the  fundamental  ideas  which  these 
passages  express.  Paul's  thought  is  that  of  loving 
devotion  to  an  infinite  Friend  and  Saviour;  it  is 
such  an  offering  of  loyalty  and  love  as  one  conscious 
being  can  make  to  another  and  a  higher.  But  Krish- 
na identifies  the  giver  with  the  receiver,  and  Arjuna 
is  taught  to  regard  the  gift  itself  as  an  act  of  God. 
The  phrase  "  commit  that  to  me  "  is  equivalent  to 
"  ascribe  that  to  me."  In  the  context  we  read :  "  Of 
those  men,  who  thinking  of  me  in  identity  (with 
themselves),  worship  me,  for  them  always  resting  in 
me,  I  bear  the  burden  of  acquisition  and  preservation 
of  possessions.  Even  those  the  devotees  of  other 
gods,  who  worship  in  faith,  they  worship  me  in  ig- 
norance." In  other  words,  the  worshipper  is  to  make 
no  difference  between  himself  and  the  Infinite.  He 
is  to  refer  all  his  daily  acts  to  the  Infinite  as  the  real 
actor,  his  own  personal  ego  being  ignored.  This  is 
not  Paul's  idea ;  it  is  the  very  reverse  of  it.  It  could 
give  comfort  only  to  the  evil-doer  who  desired  to 
shift  his  personal  responsibility. 


130    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Let  us  consider  another  alleged  resemblance.  In 
the  fifth  chapter  Krishna  declares  that  whoever 
knows  him  "  attains  rest."  This  is  presented  as  a 
parallel  to  the  words  in  Christ's  prayer :  "  This  is 
life  eternal  that  they  might  know  Thee  the  only  true 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent." 

In  both  passages  the  knowledge  of  God  is  made 
the  chief  blessing  to  be  sought,  but  in  the  one  case 
knowledge  means  only  a  recognition  of  the  Infinite 
Ego  as  existing  in  one's  personal  ego :  it  is  a  mere  ac- 
ceptance of  that  philosophic  theory  of  life.  Thus  one 
of  the  Upanishads  declares  that  "whoever  sees  all 
things  in  God,  and  God  in  all  things,  sees  the  truth 
aright;"  his  philosophy  is  correct.  On  the  other 
hand,  what  Christ  meant  was  not  the  recognition  of 
a  pantheistic  theory,  but  a  real  heart-knowledge  of 
the  Father's  character,  a  loving  experience  of  his 
divine  mercy,  his  fatherly  love,  his  ineffable  glory. 
The  one  was  cold  philosophy,  the  other  was  expe- 
rience, fellowship,  gratitude,  filial  love. 

What  pantheism  taught  was  that  God  cannot  be 
known  practically — that  He  is  without  limitations  or 
conditions — that  we  can  distinguish  Him  from  our 
finiteness  only  by  divesting  our  conception  of  Him 
of  all  that  we  are  wont  to  predicate  of  ourselves. 
He  is  subject  to  no  such  limitations  as  good  or  evil. 
In  Chapter  IX.,  Krishna  says  :  "  As  air  existing  in 
space  goes  everywhere  and  is  imlimited,  so  are  all 
things  in  me.  ...  I  am  the  Vedic  rite,  I  am 
the  sacrifice,  I  am  food,  I  am  sacred  formula,  I  am 
immortality,  I  am  also  death ;  also  the  latent  cause 
and  the  manifest  effect."     To  know  the  God  of  the 


BSAGAVAD  GIT  A  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     131 

Bhagavad  Gita  is  to  know  that  he  cannot  be  known. 
"  God  is  infinite  in  attributes,"  says  Mr.  Chatterji, 
"  and  yet  devoid  of  attributes.  This  is  the  God 
whom  the  Bhagavad  Gita  proclaims." 

By  a  similar  contradiction  the  more  the  devout  wor- 
shipper knows  of  God  the  less  he  knows,  because  the 
process  of  knowledge  is  a  process  of  "  effacement ;  " 
the  closer  the  gradual  union  becomes  the  fainter  is 
the  self-personality,  till  at  length  it  fades  away  en- 
tirely, and  is  merged  and  lost  as  a  drop  in  the  il- 
limitable sea.  This  is  the  so-called  "  rest  "  which 
Krishna  promises  as  the  reward  of  knowing  him. 
It  is  rest  in  the  sense  of  extinction ;  it  is  death ; 
while  that  which  Christ  promises  is  eternal  Life  with 
imending  and  rapturous  activity,  with  ever-growing 
powers  of  fellowship  and  of  love. 

Take  another  alleged  parallel.  Chapter  VI.  com- 
mends the  man  who  has  reached  such  a  measure  of 
indifference  that  "his  heart  is  even  in  regard  to 
friends  and  to  foes,  to  the  righteous  and  to  evil- 
doers ; "  and  this  is  held  up  as  a  parallel  to  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  which  commends  love  to  ene- 
mies that  we  may  be  children  of  the  heavenly  Father 
who  sendeth  rain  upon  the  just  and  upon  the  unjust. 
In  the  one  case  the  apathy  of  the  ascetic,  the  extinc- 
tion of  susceptibility,  the  ignoring  of  moral  distinc- 
tions, the  crippling  and  deadening  of  our  noblest 
powers  ;  in  the  other  the  use  of  these  powers  in  all 
ways  of  beneficence  toward  those  who  injure  us,  even 
as  God,  though  his  heart  is  by  no  means  "  even  " 
as  between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  stilly  shows 
kindness  to  both.     Now,  in  view  of  the  great  plausi- 


132    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

bility  of  the  parallels  which  are  thus  presented  to 
the  public — parallels  whose  subtle  fallacy  the  mass 
of  readers  are  almost  sure  to  overlook — one  can 
hardly  exaggerate  the  importance  of  thoroughly  sift- 
ing the  philosophy  that  underlies  them,  and  espe- 
cially on  the  part  of  those  who  are,  or  are  to  become, 
the  defenders  of  the  truth.* 

But  turning  from  particular  parallels  to  a  broader 
comparison,  there  is  a  general  use  of  expressions  in 
the  New  Testament  in  regard  to  which  every  Chris- 
tian teacher  should  aim  at  clear  views  and  careful 
discriminations ;  for  example,  when  we  are  said  to 
be  "  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  or  when  Christ  is 
said  to  be  "  formed  in  us  the  hope  of  glory,"  or  it  is 
"  no  longer  we  that  live,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  us." 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  defenders  of  the  Bhaga- 
vad  Gita,  and  of  the  whole  Indo-pantheistic  philoso- 
phy, might  make  out  a  somewhat  plausible  case 
along  these  lines.  I  recall  an  instance  in  which  an 
honored  pastor  had  made  such  extravagant  use  of 
these  New  Testament  expressions  that  some  of  his 
co-presbyters  raised  the  question  of  a  trial  foy  pan- 
theism. But  it  is  one  thing  to  employ  strong  terms 
of  devotional  feeling,  as  is  often  done,  especially  in 
prayer,  and  quite  another  to  frame  theories  and  phi- 
losophies, and  present  them  as  accurate  statements  of 

*  Never  before  has  there  been  so  much  danger  as  now  that  the 
lines  of  truth  will  be  washed  out  by  the  flood-tides  of  sentimental 
and  semi -Christian  substitutes  and  makeshifts.  As  with  com- 
modities, so  with  religion,  dilution  and  adulteration  are  the  order 
of  the  daj.  and  a  little  Christianity  is  made  to  flavor  a  thousand 
shams. 


BRAGAVAD  GITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     133 

truth.  The  New  Testament  nowhere  speaks  of  the 
indwelling  Spirit  in  such  a  sense  as  implies  an  ob- 
literation or  absorption  of  the  conscious  indiyidual 
ego,  while  "effacement"  instead  of  fellowship  is  a 
favorite  expression  in  the  Bhagavad  Gita.  Paul  in 
his  most  ecstatic  language  never  gives  any  hint  of 
extinction,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  magnifies  the  con- 
ception of  a  separate,  conscious,  ever-growing  per- 
sonality, living  and  rejoicing  in  Divine  fellowship 
for  evermore. 

In  the  New  Testament  the  expressions  of  our 
union  with  Christ  are  often  reversed:  instead  of 
speaking  of  Christ  as  abiding  in  the  hearts  and  lives 
of  his  people,  they  are  sometimes  said  to  abide  in 
Him,  and  that  not  in  the  sense  of  absorption.  Paul 
speaks  of  the  "  saints  in  Christ,"  of  his  own  "  bonds 
in  Christ,"  of  being  "  baptized  in  Christ,"  of  becom- 
ing "a  new  creature  in  Christ,"  of  true  Christians  as 
being  one  body  in  Christ,  of  their  lives  being  "  hid 
with  Christ  in  God."  Believers  are  spoken  of  as 
being  "buried  with  Christ,"  "dead  with  Christ." 
Every  form  of  expression  is  used  to  represent  fel- 
lowship, intimacy,  spiritual  union  with  Him,  but  al- 
ways in  a  rational  and  practical  sense,  and  with  full 
implication  of  our  distinct  and  separate  personal- 
ity. The  essential  hope  of  the  Gospel  is  that  those 
who  believe  in  Christ  shall  never  die,  that  even  their 
mortal  bodies  shall  be  raised  in  his  image,  and  that 
they  shall  be  like  Him  and  shall  abide  in  his  pres- 
ence. On  the  other  hand,  "  The  essence  of  this  pan- 
theistic system,"  says  Mr.  Chatterji,  "  is  the  denial 
of  real  existence  to  the  individual  spirit,  and  the  in- 


134     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

sistance  upon  its  true  identity  with  God"  (Chap- 
ter IV.). 

It  only  remains  to  be  said  that,  whatever  may  be 
the  similarities  of  expression  between  this  Bible  of 
pantheism  and  that  of  Christianity,  however  they 
may  agree  in  the  utterance  of  worthy  ethical  maxims, 
that  which  most  broadly  differentiates  the  Christian 
faith  from  Hindu  philosophy  is  the  salient  presen- 
tation of  great  fundamental  truths  which  are  found 
in  the  Word  of  God  alone. 

1.  The  doctrine  that  God  in  Christ  is  "  made  sin  " 
for  the  redemption  of  sinful  man — that  He  is  "  the 
end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  "  for  them  that  be- 
lieve ;  this  is  indeed  Divine  help :  this  is  salvation. 
Divinity  does  not  here  become  the  mere  charioteer  of 
human  effort,  for  the  purpose  of  coaching  it  in  the 
duties  of  caste  and  prompting  it  to  fight  out  its 
destiny  by  its  own  valor.  Christ  is  our  expiation, 
takes  our  place,  for  our  sakes  becomes  poor  that  we 
through  his  poverty  may  become  rich.  What  a  boon 
to  all  fakirs  and  merit-makers  of  the  world  if  they 
could  feel  that  that  law  of  righteousness  which  they 
are  striving  to  work  out  by  mortifications  and  self- 
tortures  had  been  achieved  for  them  by  the  Son  of 
God,  and  that  salvation  is  a  free  gift !  This  is  some- 
thing that  can  be  apprehended  alike  by  the  philoso- 
pher and  by  the  unlettered  masses  of  men. 

2.  Another  great  truth  found  in -our  Scriptures  is 
that  the  pathway  by  which  the  human  soul  returns 
to  God  is  not  the  way  of  knowledge  in  the  sense  of 
philosophy,  but  the  way  of  intelligent  confidence  and 
loving  trust.     "  With  the  heart  man  belie veth  unto 


BHAGAVAD  GIT  A  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     135 

righteousness,  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is 
made."  Man  by  wisdom  has  never  known  God. 
This  has  been  the  vain  effort  of  Hindu  speculation 
for  ages.  The  author  of  the  Nyaya  philosophy  as- 
sumed that  all  evil  springs  from  misapprehension, 
and  that  the  remedy  is  to  be  found  in  correct  meth- 
ods of  investigation,  jguided  by  skiKuUy  arranged 
syllogisms.  This  has  been  in  all  ages  the  chief 
characteristic  of  speculative  Hinduism.  And  the 
Bhagavad  Gita  furnishes  one  of  its  very  best  illus- 
trations. Of  its  eighteen  chapters,  fifteen  are  de- 
voted to  "  Right  Knowledge."  And  by  knowledge 
is  meant  abstract  speculation.  It  is  a  reaching  after 
oneness  with  the  deity  by  introspection  and  meta- 
physical analysis. 

"  Even  if  thou  wert  the  greatest  evil-doer  among 
all  the  unrighteous,"  says  Krishna,  "  thou  shalt  cross 
over  all  sins  even  by  the  ark  of  knowledge."  "  Oh, 
Arjuna,  as  blazing  fire  reduces  fuel  to  ashes,  so  the 
fire  of  knowledge  turns  all  action  into  ashes."  But 
in  the  first  place  a  knowledge  of  the  infinite  within 
us  is  unattainable,  and  in  the  second  place  it  could 
not  avail  us  even  if  attainable.  It  is  not  practical 
knowledge ;  it  is  not  a  belief  unto  righteousness.- 
Faith  is  not  an  act  of  the  brain  merely,  but  of  the 
whole  moral  nature.  The  wisdom  of  self  must  be 
laid  aside,  self -righteousness  cast  into  the  dust,  the 
pride  and  rebellion  of  the  will  surrendered,  and  the 
whole  man  become  as  a  little  child.  This  is  the  way 
of  knowledge  that  can  be  made  experimental ;  this 
is  the  knowledge  that  is  unto  eternal  life. 

3.  Another  great  differential  of  the  New  Testa- 


^ 


136     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ment  is  found  in  its  true  doctrine  of  divine  co-oper- 
ation with  the  human  will.  Our  personality  is  not 
destroyed  that  the  absolute  may  take  its  place,  but 
the  two  act  together.  "  For  men  of  renimciation," 
says  the  Bhagavad  Gita,  "  whose  hearts  are  at  rest 
from  desire  and  anger,  and  knowing  the  only  self, 
there  is  on  both  sides  of  death  effacement  (of  the 
individual)  in  the  supreme  spirit."  In  such  a  per- 
son, therefore,  even  on  this  side  of  death,  there  is  a 
cessation  of  the  individual  in  the  supreme.  Over 
against  this  the  Gospel  presents  the  doctrine  of  co- 
operative grace,  which  instead  of  crippling  our  hu- 
man energies  arouses  them  to  their  highest  and  best 
exertion.  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear 
and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you 
both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure."  The 
divine  acts  with  and  through  the  human,  but  does 
not  destroy  it.  It  imparts  the  greatest  encourage- 
ment, the  truest  inspiration. 

4.  We  notice  but  one  more  out  of  many  points  of 
contrast  between  the  doctrines  of  the  Hindu  and 
the  Christian  Bibles,  viz.,  the  difference  between  as- 
cetic inaction  and  the  life  of  Christian  activity  as 
means  of  religious  growth.  I  am  aware  that  in  the 
earlier  chapters  of  the  Bhagavad  Gita,  Krishna 
urges  Arjuna  to  valiant  activity  on  the  battle-field, 
but  that  is  for  a  special  purpose,  viz.,  the  establish- 
ment of  caste  distinctions.  It  is  w:holly  foreign  to 
Hindu  philosophy ;  it  is  even  contradictory.  The 
author  of  the  poem,  who  seems  to  be  aware  of  the 
inconsistency  of  arousing  Arjuna  to  the  mighty  ac- 
tivities of  the  battle-field,  and  at  the  same  time  in- 


BHAGAVAD  GITA  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     13T 

doctrinating  him  in  the  spirit  of  a  dead  and  nerveless 
asceticism,  struggles  hard  with  the  awkward  task  of 
bridging  the  illogical  chasm  with  three  chapters  of 
mystification. 

But  we  take  the  different  chapters  as  they  stand, 
and  in  their  obvious  meaning.  "  The  man  of  medi- 
tation is  superior  to  the  man  of  action,"  says  Chapter 
I.,  46,  "  therefore,  Arjuna,  become  a  man  of  medi- 
tation." How  the  man  of  meditation  is  to  proceed  is 
told  in  Chapter  YI.,  10-14.  "  Let  him  who  has  at- 
tained to  meditation  always  strive  to  reduce  his 
heart  to  rest  in  the  Supreme,  dwelling  in  a  secret 
place  alone,  with  body  and  mind  under  control,  de- 
void of  expectation  as  well  as  of  acceptance.  Hav- 
ing placed  in  a  clean  spot  one's  seat,  firm,  not  very 
high  nor  very  low,  formed  of  the  skins  of  animals, 
placed  upon  cloth  and  cusa  grass  upon  that,  sitting 
on  that  seat,  strive  for  meditation,  for  the  purifica- 
tion of  the  heart,  making  the  mind  one-pointed,  and 
reducing  to  rest  the  action  of  the  thinking  principle 
as  well  as  that  of  the  senses  and  organs.  Holding 
the  body,  neck,  and  head  straight  and  unmoved,  per- 
fectly determined,  and  not  working  in  any  direction, 
but  as  if  beholding  the  end  of  his  own  nose,  with  his 
heart  in  supreme  peace,  devoid  of  fear,  with  thought 
controlled  and  heart  in  me  as  the  supreme  goal,  he 
remains." 

How  different  from  all  this  is  that  prayer  of 
Christ,  "I  pray  not  that  Thou  shouldst  take  them  out 
of  the  world,  but  that  Thou  shouldst  keep  them  from 
the  evil."  Or  those  various  words  spoken  to  his 
disciples  :   "  Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men  that 


138     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

others  seeing  your  good  works  shall  glorify  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven."  "  Work  while  the  day 
lasts,  for  the  night  cometh  in  which  no  man  can  work." 

Who  can  imagine  Paul  spending  all  those  years  of 
opportunity  in  sitting  on  a  leopard  skin,  watching  the 
end  of  his  nose  instead  of  turning  the  world  upside 
down  !  In  that  true  sense  in  which  Christ  lived  with- 
in him.  He  filled  every  avenue  of  his  being  with  the 
aggressive  spirit  of  God's  own  love  for  dying  men. 
The  same  spirit  which  brought  Christ  from  heaven  to 
earth  sent  Paul  out  over  the  earth.  He  was  not  even 
content  to  work  on  old  foundations,  but  regarding 
himseK  as  under  sentence  of  death  he  longed  to  make 
the  most  of  his  votive  life,  to  bear  the  torch  of  the 
truth  into  all  realms  of  darkness.  He  was  none  the 
less  a  philosopher  because  he  preferred  the  simple 
logic  of  God's  love,  nor  did  he  hesitate  to  confront 
the  philosophy  of  Athens  or  the  threatenings  of 
Roman  tyrants.  He  was  ready  for  chains  and  im- 
prisonment, for  perils  of  tempests  or  shipwreck,  or 
robbers,  or  infuriate  mobs,  or  death  itself. 

No  Hindu  fakir  was  ever  more  conscious  of  the 
struggle  with  inward  corruption  than  he,  and  at  times 
he  could  cry  out,  "  Oh,  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  "  but 
he  did  not  seek  relief  in  idleness  and  inanity,  but  in 
what  Dr.  Chalmers  called  "  the  expulsive  power  of 
new  affections,"  in  new  measures  of  Christlike  de- 
votion to  the  cause  of  truth  and  humanity.  In  a 
word,  Christ  and  his  kingdom  displaced  the  power 
of  evil.  He  could  do  all  things  through  Christ  who 
strengthened  him. 


BHAGAVAD  GIT  A  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT     139 

Nor  was  the  peace  which  he  felt  and  which  he 
commended  to  others  the  peace  of  mere  negative 
placidity  and  indifference.  It  was  loving  confidence 
and  trust.  "  Be  careful  for  nothing '' — we  hear  him 
saying  to  his  friends  at  Philippi — "  be  careful  for 
nothing ;  but  in  all  things  by  prayer  and  supplica- 
tion, with  thanksgiving,  make  known  your  requests 
unto  God:  and  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth 
understanding,  shall  keep  your  minds  and  hearts 
through  Christ  Jesus."  And  yet  to  show  how  this 
consists  with  devout  activity,  he  commends,  in  imme- 
diate connection  with  it,  the  cultivation  of  every  ac- 
tive virtue  known  to  men.  Thus,  "  Whatsoever  things 
are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things 
are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things 
are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,  if 
there  be  any  virtue,  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on 
these  things" 


LECTUEE    V. 

BUDDHISM    AND    CHBISTIANITY 

New  interest  lias  recently  been  awakened  in  old 
controversies  concerning  the  relations  of  Christianity 
and  Buddhism.  The  so-called  Theosophists  and  Eso- 
teric Buddhists  are  reviving  exploded  arguments 
against  Christianity  as  means  of  supporting  their 
crude  theories.  The  charge  of  German  sceptics,  that 
Christianity  borrowed  largely  from  Buddhism,  is 
made  once  more  the  special  stock  in  trade  of  these 
new  and  fanatical  organizations.  To  this  end  books, 
tracts,  and  leaflets  are  scattered  broadcast,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

Professor  Max  Miiller  says,  in  a  recent  article 
published  in  Longman's  New  Revieiv :  "  Who  has 
not  suffered  lately  from  Theosophy  and  Esoteric 
Buddhism  ?  Journals  are  full  of  it,  novels  overflow 
with  it,  and  one  is  flooded  with  private  and  confiden- 
tial letters  to  ask  what  it  all  really  means.  Many 
people,  no  doubt,  are  much  distressed  in  their  minds 
when  they  are  told  that  Christianity  is  but  a  second 
edition  of  Buddhism.  *  Is  it  really  true  ? '  they  ask. 
*  Why  did  you  not  tell  us  all  this  before  ?  Surely, 
you  must  have  known  it,  and  were  only  afraid  to  tell 
it.'    Then  follow  other  questions  :  *  Does  Buddhism 


BUDDHISM  AND   CHRISTIANITY  141 

really  count  more  believers  than  any  other  relig- 
ion ? '  *  Is  Buddhism  really  older  than  Christianity, 
and  does  it  really  contain  many  things  which  are 
found  in  the  Bible  ? '  "  And  the  learned  professor 
proceeds  to  show  that  there  is  no  evidence  that 
Christianity  has  borrowed  from  Buddhism.  In  this 
country  these  same  ideas  are  perhaps  more  widely 
circulated  than  in  England.  They  are  subsidizing 
the  powerful  agency  of  the  secular  press,  particularly 
the  Sunday  newspapers,  and  thousands  of  the  peo- 
ple are  confronting  these  puzzling  questions.  There 
is  occasion,  therefore,  for  a  careful  and  candid  review 
of  Buddhism  by  all  leaders  of  thought  and  defenders 
of  truth. 

In  the  brief  time  allotted  me,  I  can  only  call  atten- 
tion to  a  few  salient  points  of  a  general  character. 
In  the  outset,  a  distinction  should  be  drawn  between 
Buddhist  history  and  Buddhist  legend,  for  just  at 
this  point  the  danger  of  misrepresentation  lies.  It 
is  true  that  the  Buddha  lived  before  the  time  of 
Christ,  and  therefore  anything  of  the  nature  of  real 
biography  must  be  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus ;  but  whether  the  legends  antedate  His 
life  and  doctrines  is  quite  another  question.  The 
Buddhist  apologists  all  assume  that  they  do,  and  it 
is  upon  the  legends  that  most  of  the  alleged  parallel- 
isms in  the  two  records  are  based.  How,  then,  shall 
we  draw  the  line  between  history  and  legend  ?  The 
concensus  of  the  best  scholarship  accepts  those  tradi- 
tions in  which  the  northern  and  southern  Buddhist 
records  agree,  which  the  Council  of  Patna,  B.C.  242, 
adopted  as  canonical,  and  which  are  in  themselves 


142    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

credible  and  consistent  with  the  teachings  of  Gauta- 
ma himself.  According  to  this  standard  of  authority 
Gautama  was  bom  about  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  as  the 
son  and  heir  of  a  rajah  of  the  Sakya  tribe  of  Aryans, 
living  about  eighty  miles  north  by  northwest  of 
Benares.  Bis  mother,  the  principal  wife  of  Kajah 
Suddhodana,  had  lived  many  years  without  offspring, 
and  she  died  not  long  after  the  birth  of  this  her  only 
son,  Siddartha.  In  his  youth  he  was  married  and 
surrounded  by  all  the  allurements  and  pleasures  of 
an  Oriental  court.  He,  too,  appears  to  have  remained 
without  an  heir  till  he  was  twenty-nine  years  of  age, 
when,  upon  the  birth  of  a  son,  certain  morbid  ten- 
dencies came  to  a  climax,  and  he  left  his  palace 
secretly  and  sought  true  comfort  in  a  life  of  asceti- 
cism. For  six  years  he  tried  diligently  the  resources 
of  Hindu  self -mortification,  but  becoming  exhausted 
by  his  austerities,  almost  unto  death,  he  abandoned 
that  mode  of  life,  having  apparently  become  atheistic. 
He  renounced  the  idea  of  merit-making  as  a  means 
of  spiritual  attainment,  and  he  was  sorely  tempted, 
no  doubt,  to  return  to  his  former  life  of  ease.  But 
he  withstood  the  temptation  and  resolved  to  forego 
earthly  pleasure,  and  teach  mankind  what  he  con- 
ceived to  be  the  way  of  life,  through  self-control.  He 
had  tried  pleasure ;  next  he  had  tried  extreme  ascet- 
icism ;  he  now  struck  out  what  he  called  "  The  Mid- 
dle Path,"  as  between  self-indulgejice  on  the  one 
hand,  and  extreme  bodily  mortification  as  a  thing  of 
merit  on  the  other.  This  middle  ground  still  de- 
manded abstinence  as  favorable  to  the  highest  men- 
tal and  moral  conditions,  but  it  was  not  carried  to 


BUDDHISM  AND  GHBISTIANITT  143 

such  extremes  as  to  weaken  the  body  or  the  mind,  or 
impair  the  fullest  operation  of  every  faculty.* 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Gautama's  relinquish- 
ment of  Hinduism  marked  a  great  and  most  trying 
crisis.  It  involved  the  loss  of  all  confidence  in  him 
on  the  part  of  his  disciples,  for  when  he  began  again 
to  take  necessary  food  they  all  forsook  him  as  a 
failure.  It  was  while  sitting  under  the  shade  of  an 
Indian  fig-tree  (Boddhi-tree)  that  this  struggle  oc- 
curred and  his  victory  was  gained.  There  his  future 
course  was  resolved  upon ;  there  was  the  real  birth- 
place of  Buddhism  as  a  system.  He  thenceforth  be- 
gan to  preach  the  law,  or  what  he  regarded  as  the  way 
of  seK-emancipation,  and  therefore  the  way  of  life. 
He  first  sought  his  five  followers,  who  had  aban- 
doned him,  and  succeeded  iu  winning  them  back.  He 
gathered  at  length  a  company  of  about  sixty  disci- 
ples, whom  he  trained  and  sent  forth  as  teachers  of 
his  new  doctrines.  Yet,  still  influenced  by  the  old 
Hindu  notions  of  the  religious  life,  he  formed  his 
disciples  into  an  order  of  mendicants,  and  in  due 
time  he  established  an  order  of  nims. 

It  was  when  Gautama  rose  up  from  his  meditation 
and  his  high  resolve  under  the  Bo-tree,  that  he  be- 
gan his  career  as  "The  Enlightened."  He  was  now 
a  Buddha,  and  claimed  to  have  attained  Nirvana. 
AU  that  has  been  written  of  his  having  left  his 
palace  with  the  purpose  of  becoming  a  saviour  of 

*  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  Buddha's  followers,  in  carrying 
out  his  system,  have  not  lapsed  into  the  old  notions  of  merit  mak- 
ing asceticism  to  greater  or  less  extent,  and  have  become  virtually 
very  much  like  the  torpid  and  useless  fakirs  of  the  old  Hinduism. 


144    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

mankind,  is  the  sheer  assumption  of  the  later  le- 
gends and  their  apologists.  Buddhism  was  an  after- 
thought, only  reached  after  six  years  of  bootless  as- 
ceticism. There  is  no  evidence  that  when  Siddartha 
left  his  palace  he  had  any  thought  of  benefiting  any- 
body but  himself.  He  entered  upon  the  life  of  the 
recluse  with  the  same  motives  and  aims  that  have  in- 
fluenced thousands  of  other  monks  and  anchorets  of 
all  lands  and  ages — some  of  them  princes  like  him- 
seK.  Nevertheless,  for  the  noble  decision  which  was 
finally  reached  we  give  him  high  credit.  It  seems 
to  have  been  one  of  the  noblest  victories  ever  gained 
by  man  over  lower  impulses  and  desires.  The  pas- 
sions of  youth  were  not  yet  dead  within  him ; 
worldly  ambition  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
still  in  force  ;  but  he  chose  the  part  of  a  missionary 
to  his  fellow-men,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  he 
ever  swerved  from  his  purpose.  He  had  won  a 
-great  victory  over  himself,  and  that  fact  constituted 
a  secret  of  great  power.  Gautama  was  about  thirty- 
five  years  of  age  when  he  became  a  Buddha,  and  for 
forty-five  years  after  that  he  lived  to  preach  his  doc- 
trines and  to  establish  the  monastic  institution  which 
has  survived  to  our  time.  He  died  a  natural  death 
from  indigestion  at  the  age  of  eighty — greatly  vener- 
ated by  his  disciples,  and  the  centre  of  what  had  al- 
ready become  a  wide-spread  system  in  a  large  district 
of  India. 

The  legends  of  Buddhism  are  a  very  different 
thing  from  the  brief  sketch  which  I  have  given,  and 
which  is  based  upon  the  earlier  Buddhist  literature. 
These  sprang  up  after  Gautama's  death,  and  their 


BUDDHISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  145 

growth  extended  through  many  centuries  —  many 
centuries  even  of  the  Christian  era.  The  legends 
divide  the  life  of  the  Buddha  into  three  periods: 
1.  That  of  his  pre-existent  states.  2.  That  part  of 
his  life  which  extended  from  his  birth  to  his  en- 
lightenment under  the  Bo-tree.  3.  The  forty-five 
years  of  his  Buddhaship.  The  legends  have  no  more 
difficulty  in  dealing  with  the  particular  experiences 
of  the  pre-existent  states  than  in  enriching  and 
adorning  the  incidents  of  his  earthly  life ;  and  both 
are  doubtless  about  equally  authentic. 

Gautama  discarded  the  idea  of  a  divine  revelation ; 
he  rejected  the  authority  of  the  Vedas  totally.  He 
denied  that  he  was  divine,  but  distinctly  claimed  to 
be  a  plain  and  earnest  man.  All  that  he  knew,  he 
had  discovered  by  insight  and  seK-conquest.  To 
assume  that  he  was  pre  -  existently  divine  and  om- 
niscient subverts  the  whole  theory  of  his  so-called 
"discovery,"  and  is  at  variance  with  the  idea  of  a 
personal  conquest.  The  chief  emphasis  and  force  of 
his  teachings  lay  in  the  assumption  that  he  did  simply 
what  other  men  might  do ;  for  his  mission  was  that  of 
a  teacher  and  exempler  merely.  He  was  a  saviour 
only  in  that  he  taught  men  how  to  save  themselves. 

The  pre-existent  states  are  set  forth  in  the  "  Jata- 
kas,"  or  Birth  Stories  of  Ceylon,  which  represent  him 
as  having  been  bom  five  hundred  and  thirty  times 
after  he  became  a  Bodisat  (a  predestined  Buddha). 
As  a  specimen  of  his  varied  experience  while  be- 
coming fitted  for  Buddaship,  we  read  that  he  was 
bom  eighty-three  times  as  an  ascetic,  fifty-eight  as  • 
a  monarch,  forty-three  as  a  deva,  twenty-four  as  a 
10 


146    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Brahman,  eighteen  as  an  ape ;  as  a  deer  ten,  an  ele- 
phant six,  a  lion  ten ;  at  least  once  each  as  a  thief,  a 
gambler,  a  frog,  a  hare,  a  snipe.  He  was  also  em- 
bodied in  a  tree.  But  as  a  Bodisat  he  could  not  be 
bom  in  hell,  nor  as  vermin,  nor  as  a  woman !  Says 
Spence  Hardy,  with  a  touch  of  irony:  "He  could 
descend  no  lower  than  a  snipe." 

Northern  legends  represent  Buddha  as  having 
"  incarnated  "  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  relief  to  a 
distressed  world.  He  was  miraculously  conceived — 
entering  his  mother's  side  in  the  form  of  a  white 
elephant.  All  nature  manifested  its  joy  on  the  oc- 
casion. The  ocean  bloomed  with  flowers ;  all  beings 
from  many  worlds  showed  their  wonder  and  sympa- 
thy. Many  miracles  were  wrought  even  during  his 
childhood,  and  every  part  of  his  career  was  filled  with 
marvels.  At  his  temptation  imder  the  Bo-tree,  Mara 
(Satan)  came  to  him  mounted  on  an  elephant  sixteen 
miles  high  and  surrounded  by  an  encircling  army  of 
demons  eleven  miles  deep.*  Finding  him  proof 
against  his  blandishments,  he  hurled  mountains  of 
rocks  against  him,  and  assailed  him  with  fire  and 
smoke  and  ashes  and  filth — all  of  which  became  as 
zephyrs  on  his  cheek  or  as  presents  of  fragrant 
flowers.  Last  of  all,  he  sent  his  three  daughters  to 
seduce  him.  Their  blandishments  are  set  forth  at 
great  length  in  the  "  Romantic  Legend." 

♦The  Jatdka  legends  of  Ceylon,  dating  in  their  present  form 
about  500  A.D.,  greatly  enlarge  the  proportions  of  this  Northern 
legend,  making  the  elephant  over  seven  thousand  miles  high,  and 
widening  out  the  surrounding  army  to  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  miles. 


BUDDHISM  AND  GHRI8TIANITT  147 

In  the  Northern  Buddhist  literature — embracing 
both  the  "  Eomantic  Legend  "  *  and  the  "  Lalita  Vis- 
tara" — many  incidents  of  Buddha's  childhood  are 
given  which  show  a  seeming  coincidence  with  the  life 
of  Christ.  It  is  claimed  that  his  birth  was  heralded 
by  angelic  hosts,  that  an  aged  sage  received  him  into 
his  arms  and  blessed  him,  that  he  was  taken  to  the 
temple  for  consecration,  that  a  jealous  ruler  sought 
to  destroy  him,  that  in  his  boyhood  he  astonished  the 
doctors  by  his  wisdom,  that  he  was  baptized,  or  at 
least  took  a  bath,  that  he  was  tempted,  transfigured, 
and  finally  received  up  into  heaven.  These  will  be 
noticed  farther  on ;  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  here 
that  the  legends  giving  these  details  are  first  at  vari- 
ance with  the  early  canonical  history,  and  second,  that 
they  are  of  such  later  dates  as  to  place  most  of  them 
probably  within  the  Christian  era. 

The  Four  Peculiar  and  Characteristic  Doctrines  of 
Buddhism. 

1.  Its  peculiar  conception  of  the  soul.  2.  Its  doc- 
trine of  Trishna  and  Upadana.  3.  Its  theory  of 
Kharma.     4.  Its  doctrine  of  Nirvana. 

1.  The  Skandas,  five  in  number,  constitute  in  their 
interaction  what  all  others  than  Buddhists  regard  as 
the  soul.  They  consist  of  material  properties ;  the 
senses;  abstract  ideas;  tendencies  or  propensities; 
and  the  mental  powers.  The  soul  is  the  result  of 
the  combined  action  of  these,  as  the  flame  of  a  candle 
proceeds  from  the  combustion  of  its  constituent  ele- 

•  Of  the  Romantic  Legend  found  in  Nepaul,  Beall's  translation 
is  probably  the  best 


148     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ments.  The  flame  is  never  the  same  for  two  con- 
secutive moments.  It  seems  to  have  a  perpetuated 
identity,  but  that  is  only  an  illusion,  and  the  same 
unreality  pertains  to  the  soul.  It  is  only  a  succes- 
sion of  thoughts,  emotions,  and  conscious  experiences. 
We  are  not  the  same  that  we  were  an  hour  ago.  In 
fact,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  being — there  is  only  a 
constant  becoming.  We  are  ever  passing  from  one 
point  to  another  throughout  our  life ;  and  this  is  true 
of  aU  beings  and  all  things  in  the  universe.  How  it 
is  that  the  succession  of  experiences  is  treasured  up 
in  memory  is  not  made  clear.  This  is  a  most  subtle 
doctrine,  and  it  has  many  points  of  contact  with 
various  speculations  of  modem  times.  It  has  also  a 
plausible  side  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  experi- 
ence, but  its  gaps  and  inconsistencies  are  fatal,  as 
must  be  seen  when  it  is  thoroughly  examined. 

2.  The  second  of  the  cardinal  doctrines  is  that  of 
Trishna.  Trishna  is  that  inborn  element  of  desire 
whose  tendency  is  to  lead  men  into  evil.  So  far, 
it  is  a  misfortune  or  a  form  of  original  sin.  What- 
ever it  may  have  of  the  nature  of  guilt  hangs  upon 
the  issues  of  a  previous  life.  Upadana  is  a  further 
stage  in  the  same  development.  It  is  Trishna 
ripened  into  intense  craving  by  our  own  choice  and 
our  own  action.  It  then  becomes  uncontrollable  and 
is  clearly  a  matter  of  guilt.  Now,  the  momentum  of 
this  Upadana  is  such  that  it  cannot  be  arrested  by 
death.  Like  the  demons  of  Gadara  it  must  again 
become  incarnate,  even  though  it  should  enter  the 
body  of  a  brute.  And  this  transitional  something, 
this  restless  moral  or  immoral  force  which  must  work 


BUDDHISM  AND   GHRISTIANITT  149 

out  its  natural  results  somehow  and  somewhere,  and 
that  in  embodied  form  projects  into  future  being  a 
re&iduum  which  is  known  as  Kharma. 

3.  What,  then,  is  Kharma?  Literally  it  means 
"the  doing."  It  is  a  man's  record,  involving  the 
consequences  and  liabilities  of  his  acts.  It  is  a  score 
which  must  be  settled.  A  question  naturally  arises, 
how  the  record  of  a  soul  can  survive  when  the  soul 
itself  has  been  "  blown  out."  The  illustration  of  the 
candle  does  not  quite  meet  the  case.  If  the  flame 
were  something  which  when  blown  out  immediately 
seized  upon  some  other  substance  in  which  the  work 
of  combustion  proceeded,  it  would  come  nearer  to 
a  parallel.  One  candle  may  light  another  before 
itself  is  extinguished,  but  it  does  not  do  it  by  an  in- 
herent necessity.  But  this  flame  of  the  soul,  this 
Kharma,  must  enter  some  other  body  of  god,  or  man, 
or  beast. 

Again,  the  question  arises.  How  can  responsibility 
be  transferred  from  one  to  another  ?  How  can  the 
heavy  load  of  a  man's  sin  be  laid  upon  some  new- 
bom  infant,  while  the  departing  sinner  has  himself 
no  further  concern  in  his  evil  Kharma,  but  sinks  into 
non-existence  the  moment  his  "  conformations  "  are 
touched  with  dissolution  ?  Buddhism  acknowledges 
a  mystery  here ;  no  real  explanation  can  be  given, 
and  none  seems  to  have  been  attempted  by  Buddhist 
writers.  To  be  consistent,  Gautama,  in  denying  the 
existence  of  God  and  of  the  soul  as  an  entity,  should 
have  taught  the  materialistic  doctrine  of  annihilation. 
This,  however,  he  could  not  do  in  the  face  of  that 
deep-rooted  idea  of  transmigration  which  had  taken 


150    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

entire  possession  of  the  Hindu  mind.  Gautama  was 
compelled  therefore  to  bridge  a  most  illogical  chasm 
as  best  he  could.  Kharma  without  a  soul  to  cling  to 
is  something  in  the  air.  It  alights  like  some  winged 
seed  upon  a  new-bom  set  of  Skandas  with  its  luckless 
boon  of  ill  desert,  and  it  involves  the  fatal  inconsist- 
ency of  investing  with  permanent  character  that 
which  is  itseK  impermanent. 

But  the  question  may  be  asked,  "  Do  we  not  admit 
a  similar  principle  when  we  speak  of  a  man's  influ- 
ence as  something  that  survives  him  ?  "  We  answer, 
"  No."  Influence  is  a  simple  radiation  of  impres- 
sions. A  man  may  leave  an  influence  which  men  are 
free  to  accept  or  not,  but  it  is  quite  a  different  thing 
if  he  leaves  upon  a  successor  the  moral  liabilities  of 
a  bankrupt  character.  Gautama's  own  Kharma,  for 
example,  ceased  to  exist  upon  his  entering  Nirvana ; 
there  was  no  re-birth  ;  but  his  influence  lives  forever, 
and  has  extended  to  millions  of  his  fellow-men. 

The  injustice  involved  in  the  doctrine  of  Kharma 
is  startling.  The  new-bom  soul  that  inherits  its  un- 
settled score  has  no  memory  or  consciousness  that 
connects  it  with  himself ;  it  is  not  heredity ;  it  is 
not  his  father's  character  that  invests  him.  This 
Kharma  may  have  crossed  the  ocean  from  the  death- 
bed of  some  unknown  man  of  another  race.  The 
doctrine  is  the  more  astonishing  when  we  consider 
that  no  Supreme  Being  is  recognized  as  claiming 
this  retribution.  There  is  no  God ;  it  is  a  vague 
law  of  eternal  justice,  a  law  without  a  law-giver  or  a 
judge.  There  can  therefore  be  no  pardon,  no  com- 
mutation of  sentence,  no  such  thing  as  divine  pity  or 


BUDDHISM  AND  GHRISTIANITT  151 

help.  The  only  way  in  which  one  can  disentangle 
himseK  is  by  breaking  forever  the  connection  be- 
tween spirit  and  matter  which  binds  him  with  the 
shackles  of  conscious  being. 

4.  Nirvana.  No  doctrine  of  Buddhism  has  been 
so  much  in  dispute  as  this.  It  has  been  widely 
maintained  that  Nirvana  means  extinction.  But  T. 
W.  Khys  Davids  and  others  have  held  that  it  is  "the 
destruction  of  malice,  passion,  and  delusion,"  and 
that  it  may  be  attained  in  this  life.  The  definition 
is  quoted  from  comparatively  recent  Pali  transla- 
tions."^ Gautama,  therefore,  reached  Nirvana  forty- 
five  years  before  his  death.  It  is  claimed,  however, 
that  insomuch  as  it  cuts  off  Kharma,  or  re-birth,  it  in- 
volves entire  extinction  of  being  upon  the  dissolution 
of  the  body.f  It  is  held  by  still  others  that  Nirvana 
is  a  return  to  the  original  and  all-pervading  Boddhi- 
essence.  This  theory,  which  is  really  a  concession  to 
the  Brahmanical  doctrine  of  absorption  into  the  in- 
finite Brahma,  has  a  wide  following  among  the  mod- 
em Buddhists  in  China  and  Japan.  It  is  a  form  of 
Buddhist  pantheism. 

As  to  the  teaching  of  Gautama  on  this  subject, 
Professor  Max  Miiller,  while  admitting  that  the  meta- 
physicians who  followed  the  great  teacher  plainly 
taught  that  the  entire  personal  entity  of  an  arhat  (an 
enlightened  one)  would  become  extinct  upon  the  death 
of  the  body,  yet  reasons,  in  his  lecture  on  Buddhistic 
Nihilism,  that  the  Buddha  himseK  could  not  hav« 

*  See  Appendix  of  Origin  and  Growth  of  Bdigion  as  iUttstrated 
in  Buddhism. 

f  See  Buddhism,  pp.  110-115. 


152    ORIENTAL  BELIQI0N8  AND  GBRI8TIANITT 

taught  a  doctrine  so  disheartening.  At  the  same 
time  he  quotes  the  learned  and  judicial  Bishop  Big- 
andet  as  declaring,  after  years  of  study  and  observa- 
tion in  Burmah,  that  such  is  the  doctrine  ascribed  to 
the  great  teacher  by  his  own  disciples.  Gautama  is 
quoted  as  closing  one  of  his  sermons  in  these  words  : 
"  Mendicants,  that  which  binds  the  teacher  to  exist- 
ence is  cut  off,  but  his  body  still  remains.  While 
his  body  still  remains  he  shall  be  seen  by  gods  and 
men,  but  after  the  termination  of  life,  upon  the  dis- 
solution of  the  body,  neither  gods  nor  men  shall  see 
him."  T.  W.  Khys  Davids  expresses  the  doctrine  of 
Nirvana  tersely  and  correctly  when  he  says :  "  Utter 
death,  with  no  new  life  to  follow,  is,  then,  a  result  of, 
but  it  is  not.  Nirvana."  *  Professor  Oldenberg  sug- 
gests, with  much  plausibility,  that  the  Buddha  was 
more  reticent  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  final  ex- 
tinction in  the  later  periods  of  his  life ;  that  the  de- 
pressing doctrine  had  been  found  a  stumbling-block, 
and  that  he  came  to  assume  an  agnostic  position  on  the 
question.  In  his  "  Buddha,  "t  Professor  Oldenberg, 
partly  in  answer  to  the  grounds  taken  by  Professor 
Max  Miiller  in  his  lecture  on  Buddhistic  Nihilism, 
has  very  fully  discussed  the  question  whether  the 
ego  survives  in  Nirvana  in  any  sense.  He  claims 
that  certain  new  translations  of  Pali  texts  have  given 
important  evidence  on  the  subject,  and  he  sums  up 
with  the  apparent  conclusion  that  the  Buddha, 
moved  by  the  depressing  influence  which  the  grim 
doctrine  of  Nirvana,  in  the  sense  of  extinction,  was 
producing  upon  his  disciples,  assumed  a  position  of 
•  Buddlmm,  p.  114.  f  Pp.  265-285. 


BUDDHISl^  AND  CHRISTIANITY  153 

reticence  as  to  whether  the  ego  survives  or  not. 
The  venerable  Malukya  (see  p.  275)  is  said  to  have 
plied  the  Master  with  questions.  "  Does  the  perfect 
Buddha  live  on  beyond  death,  or  does  he  not  ?  It 
pleases  me  not  that  all  this  should  remain  unan- 
swered, and  I  do  not  think  it  right.  May  it  please 
the  Master  to  answer  me  if  he  can.  But  when  any- 
one does  not  understand  a  matter,  then  a  straightfor- 
ward man  says,  *  I  do  not  know  that.'  "  The  Buddha 
replies  somewhat  evasively  that  he  has  not  under- 
taken to  decide  such  questions,  because  they  are  not 
for  spiritual  edification. 

The  question.  What  is  Nirvana  ?  has  been  the  ob- 
ject of  more  extensive  discussion  than  its  importance 
demands.  Practically,  the  millions  of  Buddhists  are 
not  concerned  with  the  question.  They  find  no  at- 
traction in  either  view.  They  desire  neither  extinc- 
tion nor  imconscious  absorption  into  the  Boddhi 
essence  (or  Brahm).  What  they  anticipate  is  an 
improved  transmigration,  a  better  birth.  The  more 
devout  may  indulge  the  hope  that  their  next  life  will 
be  spent  in  one  of  the  Buddhist  heavens ;  others 
may  aspire  to  be  men  of  high  position  and  influence. 
The  real  heaven  to  which  the  average  Buddhist  looks 
forward  is  apt  to  be  something  very  much  after  his 
own  heai-t,  or  at  least  something  indicated  by  the 
estimate  which  he  himseK  places  upon  his  own  char- 
acter and  life.  There  may  be  many  transmigrations 
awaiting  him,  but  he  is  chiefly  concerned  for  the 
next  in  order.  The  very  last  object  to  excite  his  in- 
terest is  that  far-off  shadow  called  Nirvana. 

In  estimating   the  conflict  of  Christianity  with 


154    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Buddhism  we  must  not  take  counsel  merely  of  our 
own  sense  of  the  absurdity  of  Gautama's  teachings ; 
we  are  to  remember  that  in  Christian  lands  society 
is  made  up  of  all  kinds  of  people ;  that  outside  of 
the  Christian  Church  there  are  thousands,  and  even 
millions,  who,  with  respect  to  faith,  are  in  utter  chaos 
and  darkness.  The  Church  therefore  cannot  view 
this  subject  from  its  own  stand-point  merely.  Let 
us  glance  at  certain  features  of  Buddhism  which  ren- 
der it  welcome  to  various  classes  of  men  who  dwell 
among  us  in  Western  lands.  First  of  all,  the  system 
commends  itseK  to  many  by  its  intense  individual- 
ism. Paul's  figure  of  the  various  parts  of  the  hu- 
man frame  as  illustrating  the  body  of  Christ,  mu- 
tual in  the  interdependence  of  all  its  members, 
would  be  wholly  out  of  place  in  Buddhism.  Even 
the  Buddhist  monks  are  so  many  units  of  intro- 
verted self -righteousness.  And  individualism  differ- 
ently applied  is  the  characteristic  of  our  age,  and 
therefore  a  bond  of  sympathy  is  supplied.  "  Every 
man  for  himseH,"  appeals  to  modem  society  in  many 
ways. 

Again,  Gautama  magnified  the  human  intellect  and 
the  power  of  the  human  will.  "  O  Ananda,"  he  said, 
"  be  lamps  unto  yourselves  ;  depend  upon  no  other." 
He  claimed  to  have  thought  out,  and  thought  through 
every  problem  of  existence,  to  have  penetrated  every 
secret  of  human  nature  in  the  present,  and  in  the  life 
to  come,  and  his  example  was  commended  to  all,  that 
they  might  follow  in  their  measure.  So  also  our 
transcendental  philosophers  have  glorified  the  pow- 
ers and  possibilities  of  himianity,  and  have  made 


BUDDHISM  AND   CHRISTIANITY  155 

genius  superior  to  saintliness.*  There  are  tens  of 
thousands  who  in  this  respect  believe  in  a  religion  of 
humanity,  and  who  worship,  if  they  worship  at  all, 
the  goddess  of  reason.  All  such  have  a  natural  af- 
finity for  Buddhism. 

Another  point  in  common  between  this  system  and 
the  spirit  of  our  age  is  its  broad  humanitarianism — 
beneficence  to  the  lower  grades  of  life.  When  love 
transcends  the  bounds  of  the  human  family  it  does 
not  rise  up  toward  God,  it  descends  toward  the 
lower  orders  of  the  animal  world.  "  Show  pity  to- 
ward everything  that  exists,"  is  its  motto,  and  the  in- 
sect and  the  worm  hold  a  larger  relative  place  in  the 
Buddhist  than  in  the  Christian  view.  The  question 
"  Are  ye  not  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows  ?  " 
might  be  doubtful  in  the  Buddhist  estimate,  for  the 
teacher  himself,  in  his  pre-existent  states,  had  often 
been  incarnate  in  inferior  creatures.  It  is  by  no 
means  conceded  that  Jesus,  in  asking  his  disciples 
this  question,  had  less  pity  for  the  sparrows  than  the 
Buddha,  or  that  his  beneficence  was  less  thoughtful 
of  the  meanest  thing  that  glides  through  the  air  or 
creeps  upon  the  earth ;  but  the  spirit  of  Christianity 
is  more  discriminating,  and  its  love  rises  up  to  heaven, 
where,  beginning  with  God,  it  descends  through  every 
grade  of  being. 

Yet  it  is  quite  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  and 
aim  of  thousands  to  magnify  the  charity  that  confines 

*  It  is  the  boast  of  the  author  of  Esoteric  Buddhism,  that  strange 
mixture  of  Western  spiritualism  with  Oriental  mysticism,  that  his 
system  despises  the  tame  "  goody,  goody  "  spirit  of  Christianity, 
and  deals  with  the  endless  grg^th  of  mind. 


156     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

itself  to  bodily  wants  and  distresses,  to  sneer  at  the 
relief  which  religion  may  bring  to  the  far  greater  an- 
guish of  the  spirit,  and  to  look  upon  love  and  loyalty 
to  God  as  superstition.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  such 
pea-sons  have  a  warm  side  toward  Buddhism  ?  Again, 
this  system  has  certain  points  in  common  with  our 
modem  evolution  theories.  It  is  unscientific  enough 
certainly  in  its  speculations,  but  it  gets  on  without 
creatorship  or  divine  superintendence,  and  believes 
in  the  inflexible  reign  of  law,  though  without  a  law- 
giver. It  assigns  long  ages  to  the  process  of  creation, 
if  we  may  call  it  creation,  and  in  development  through 
cycles  it  sees  little  necessity  for  the  work  of  God. 

It  can  also  join  hands  cordially  with  many  social 
theories  of  the  day.  The  pessimism  of  Buddhists,  an- 
cient or  modem,  finds  great  sympathy  in  the  crowded 
populations  of  the  Western  as  weU  as  the  East- 
em  world.  And,  almost  as  a  rule,  Esoteric  Buddh- 
ism, American  Buddhism,  Neo-Buddhism,  or  what- 
ever we  may  call  it,  is  a  cave  of  Adullam  to  which 
all  types  of  religious  apostates  and  social  malcon- 
tents resort.  The  thousands  who  have  made  ship- 
wreck of  faith,  who  have  become  soured  at  the  un- 
equal allotments  of  Providence,  who  have  learned  to 
hate  all  who  are  above  them  and  more  prosperous 
than  they,  are  just  in  the  state  of  mind  to  take  de- 
light in  Buddha's  sermon  at  Kapilavastu,  as  rehearsed 
by  Sir  Edwin  Arnold.  There  all  beings  met — gods, 
devas,  men,  beasts  of  the  field,  and  fowls  of  the  air 
— to  make  common  cause  against  the  relentless  fate 
that  rules  the  world,  and  to  bewail  Ihe  sufferings  and 
death  which  fill  the  great  charnel-house  of  existence, 


BUDDHISM  AND  GRItlSTIANITY  157 

while  Buddha  voiced  their  common  complaint  and 
stood  before  them  as  the  only  pitying  friend  that  the' 
universe  had  found.  It  was  the  first  great  Commu- 
nist meeting  of  which  we  have  any  record.*  The 
wronged  and  suffering  universe  was  there,  and  all 

**took  the  promise  of  his  piteous  speech, 
So  that  their  lives,  prisoned  in  the  shape  of  ape, 
Tiger  or  deer,  shagged  bear,  jackal  or  wolf. 
Foul-feeding  kite,  pearled  dove  or  peacock  gemmed, 
Squat  toad  or  speckled  serpent,  lizard,  bat. 
Yea,  or  fish  fanning  the  river  waves. 
Touched  meekly  at  the  skirts  of  brotherhood 
With  man,  who  hath  less  innocence  than  these  : 
And  in  mute  gladness  knew  their  bondage  broke 
Whilst  Buddha  spoke  these  things  before  the  king.*' 

There  was  no  mention  of  sin,  but  only  of  universal 
misfortune ! 

In  contrast  with  the  deep  shadows  of  a  brooding 
and  all-embracing  pessimism  like  this,  we  need  only 
to  hint  at  that  glow  of  hope  and  joy  with  which  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness  has  flooded  the  world,  and  the 
fatherly  love  and  compassion  with  which  the  Old  Tes- 
tament and  the  New  are  replete,  the  divine  plan  of 
redemption,  the  psalms  of  praise  and  thanksgiving, 
the  pity  of  Christ's  words  and  acts,  and  his  invita- 
tions to  the  weary  and  heavy-laden.  In  one  view  it 
is  strange  that  pessimism  should  have  comfort  in  the 
fellowship  of  pessimism,  but  so  it  is ;  there  is  luxury 
even  in  the  sympathy  of  hate,  and  so  Buddhist  pes- 
simism is  a  welcome  guest  among  us,  though  our 
Communistic  querulousness  is  more  bitter. 
*  lAghi  of  Asia. 


158    ORIENTAL   RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Once  more,  Buddhist  occultism  has  found  con- 
genial fellowship  in  American  spiritualism.  Of  late 
we  hear  less  of  spirit-rappings  and  far  more  of  The- 
osophy.  But  this  is  only  the  same  crude  system 
with  other  names,  and  rendered  more  respectable 
by  the  cast-off  garments  of  old  Indian  philosophy. 
There  is  a  disposition  in  the  more  intellectual  circles 
to  assume  a  degree  of  disdain  toward  the  crudeness 
of  spiritualism  and  its  vulgar  familiarity  with  de- 
parted spirits,  who  must  ever  be  disturbed  by  its 
beck  and  call ;  but  it  is  confidently  expected  that  the 
thousands,  nay,  as  some  say,  millions,  of  American 
spiritualists  will  gladly  welcome  the  name  and  the 
creed  of  Buddha.^  It  will  be  idle  therefore  to  assume 
that  the  old  sleepy  system  of  Gautama  has  no  chance 
in  this  wide-awake  republic  of  the  West.f 

I  have  abeady  called  attention  to  the  special  tac- 
tics of  Buddhists  just  now  in  claiming  that  Christi- 
anity, having  been  of  later  origin,  has  borrowed  its 
principal  facts  and  its  teachings.  Let  us  examine 
the  charge.  It  is  a  real  tribute  to  the  character  of 
Christ  that  so  many  sects  of  false  religionists  have 
in  all  ages  claimed  Him  either  as  a  follower  or  as  an 
incarnation  of  their  respective  deities.  Others  have 
acknowledged  his  teachings  as  belonging  to  their 
particular  style  and  grade.     The  bitter  and  scathing 

♦Mr.  Sinnett,  in  his  Esoteric  Buddhism,  expressed  the  idea 
that  it  was  high  time  that  the  crudities  of  spiritualism  should  be 
corrected  by  the  more  philosophic  occultism  of  the  East. 

f  The  points  of  contact  between  Buddhism  and  certain  forms 
of  Western  thought  have  been  ably  treated  by  Professor  S.  H. 
Kellogg,  in  the  Light  of  Asia  and  Light  of  the  World. 


BUDDHISM  AND  CHBISTIAmTT  169 

calumny  of  Celsus,  in  the  first  centuries  of  our  era, 
did  not  prevent  numerous  attempts  to  prove  the 
identity  of  Christ's  teachings  with  some  of  the  most 
popular  philosophies  of  the  heathen  world.  Por- 
phyry claimed  that  many  of  Christ's  virtues  were 
copied  from  Pythagoras.  With  like  concession  Mo- 
hammedanism included  Jesus  as  one  of  the  six  great 
prophets,  and  confessedly  the  only  sinless  one  among 
them  all.  Many  a  fanatic  in  the  successive  centuries 
has  claimed  to  be  a  new  incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God.  Hindus  have  named  Him  as  an  incarnation  of 
Vishnu  for  the  Western,  as  was  Krishna  for  the  East- 
em  World.  As  was  indicated  in  the  opening  of  this 
lecture,  the  Theosophists  are  making  special  claim  to 
Him,*  and  are  reviving  the  threadbare  theory  that 
He  was  a  follower  of  Buddha. 

So  strong  an  effort  is  made  to  prove  that  Christi- 
anity has  borrowed  both  its  divine  leader  and  its 
essential  doctrines  from  India,  that  a  moment's  at- 
tention may  well  be  given  to  the  question  here.  One 
allegation  is  that  the  Evangelists  copied  the  Buddhist 
history  and  legends  in  their  account  of  Christ's  early 
life.  Another  is  that  the  leaders  of  the  Alexandrian 
Church  worked  over  the  gospel  story  at  a  later  day, 
having  felt  more  fully  the  influence  of  India  at  that 
great  commercial  centre.  The  two  theories  are  in- 
consistent with  each  other,  and  both  are  inconsistent 
with  the  assumption  that  Christ  HimseK  was  a  Bud- 
dhist, and  taught  the  Buddhist  doctrines,  since  this 

*  A  recent  tract  has  appeared,  entitled  Theosopliy  the  Bdigion 
of  Jesm. 


160    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRI8TIANITT 

supposition  would  have  obviated  the  need  of  any 
manipulation  or  fraud  at  any  point. 

In  replying  as  briefly  as  possible  I  shall  endeavor 
to  cover  both  allegations.  In  strong  contrast  with 
these  cheap  assertions  of  Alexandrian  corruption 
and  plagiarism  is  the  frank  admission  of  such  keen 
critics  as  Eenan,  Weiss,  Yolkmar,  Schenkel,  and  Hit- 
zig,*  that  the  gospel  record  as  we  have  it,  was  writ- 
ten during  a  generation  in  which  some  of  the  com- 
panions of  Jesus  still  lived.  Renan  says  of  Mark's 
Gospel  that  "  it  is  full  of  minute  observations,  com- 
ing doubtless  from  an  eye-witness,"  and  he  asserts 
that  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  were  written  "  in 
substantially  their  present  form  by  the  men  whose 
names  they  bear."  These  Gospels  were  the  work 
of  men  who  knew  Jesus.  Matthew  was  one  of  the 
Twelve ;  John  in  his  Epistle  speaks  of  himself  as  an 
eye-witness.  They  were  written  in  a  historic  age 
and  were  open  to  challenge.  They  were  nowhere 
contradicted  in  contemporary  history.  They  fit 
their  environment. 

How  is  it  with  the  authenticity  of  Buddhist  liter- 
ature ?  Oldenberg  says,  "  For  the  when  of  things 
men  of  India  have  never  had  a  proper  organ,"  and 
Max  Miiller  declares  to  the  same  effect,  that  "the 
idea  of  a  faithful,  literal  translation  seems  altogether 
foreign  to  Oriental  minds."  He  also  informs  us 
that  there  is  not  a  single  manuscript  in  India  which 
is  a  thousand  years  old,  and  scarcely  one  that  can 
claim  five  hundred  years.  For  centuries  after  Gau- 
tama's time  nothing  was  written ;  all  was  trans- 
*  Cited  bj  Professor  Kellogg. 


BUDDHISM  AND  GHRISTIANITT  161 

mitted  by  word  of  mouth.  Buddhists  themselves 
say  that  the  Pali  canonical  texts  were  written  about 
88  B.C.* 

Any  fair  comparison  of  the  two  histories  should 

*  Professor  T.  W.  Rhys  Davids,  in  his  introduction  to  Buddh- 
ism, enumerates  the  following  sources  of  knowledge  concerning 
the  early  Buddhism : 

1.  The  Lalita  Vistara,  a  Sanscrit  work  of  the  Northern  Buddh- 
ists "full  of  extravagant  fictions"  concerning  the  early  portion 
of  Gautama's  life.  'Davids  compares  it  to  Milton's  Paradise 
Regained^  as  a  source  of  history,  and  claims  that  although  parts 
of  it  were  translated  into  Chinese  in  the  first  century  of  our  era, 
there  is  no  proof  of  its  existence  in  its  present  form  earlier  than 
the  sixth  century  A.D. 

2.  Two  Thibetan  versions,  based  chiefly  on  the  Lalita  Vistara. 

3.  *rhe  Romantic  Legend,  from  the  Sanscrit  of  the  Northern 
Buddhists,  translated  into  Chinese  in  the  sixth  century  A.D.; 
English  version  by  Beal  published  in  1875.  This  also  is  an  ex- 
travagant poem.  This  and  the  Lalita  Vistara  embrace  most  of 
the  alleged  parallels  to  the  Life  of  Christ. 

4.  The  original  Pali  text  of  the  Commentary  on  tlie  Jatakas, 
written  in  Ceylon  probably  about  the  fifth  century  of  our  era. 
Davids  considers  its  account  down  to  the  time  of  Gautama's  re- 
turn to  Kapilavastu,  * '  the  best  authority  we  have. "  It  contains 
word  for  word  almost  the  whole  of  the  life  of  Gautama  given  by 
Tumour,  from  a  commentary  on  the  Buddhavansa,  "  which  is  the 
account  of  the  Buddhas  contained  in  the  second  Pitaka. " 

5.  An  account  taken  by  Spence  Hardy  from  Cingalese  books  of 
a  comparatively  modern  date. 

6.  An  English  translation  by  Bigandet  of  a  Burmese  account, 
which  was  itself  a  translation  of  unknown  date  made  from  a  Pali 
version. 

7.  An  account  of  the  death  of  Gautama,  given  in  Pali  and  said 
to  be  the  oldest  of  all  the  sources.  It  is  full  of  wonders  created 
by  the  fancy  of  the  unknown  author,  but  differs  widely  from  the 
fancy  sketches  of  the  Lalita  Vistara  of  the  North. 

8.  A  translation  by  Mr.  Alabaster  of  a  Siamese  account.  It 
does  not  claim  to  be  exact. 

11 


162    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

confine  itself  to  the  writings  which  are  regarded  as 
canonical  respectively,  and  whose  dates  can  be  fixed. 
No  more  importance  should  be  attached  to  the  later 
Buddhist  legends  than  to  the  *'  Apocryphal  Gos- 
pels," or  to  the  absurd  "  Christian  Legends  "  which 
appeared  in  the  middle  ages.  The  Buddhist  Canon 
was  adopted  by  the  Council  of  Patna  242  B.C.  The 
legends  which  are  generally  compared  with  the  canon- 
ical story  of  Christ  are  not  included  in  that  Canon,  or 
at  most  very  few  of  them.  They  are  drawn  from  cer- 
tain poetical  books  written  much  later,  and  holding 
about  the  same  relation  to  the  Buddhist  Canon  that 
the  "Paradise  Lost"  and  "Paradise  Eegained"  of 
Milton  bear  to  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  Who  would  think  of  quoting  "  Paradise 
Lost "  in  any  sober  comparison  of  Biblical  truth  with 
the  teachings  of  other  religions  ?  * 

♦  T.  W.  Rhys  Davids  illustrates  the  worthlessness  of  poetic  nar- 
rations as  grounds  of  argument  by  quoting  from  Milton's  Para- 
dise Regained  this  mere  fancy  sketch  of  the  accompaniments  of 
Christ's  temptation : 

"  And  either  tropic  now 
'Gan  thunder  and  both  ends  of  heaven  ;  the  clouds 
From  many  a  horrid  rift  abortive  poured 
Fierce  rain  with  lightning  mixed,  water  with  fire 
In  ruin  reconciled  ;  nor  slept  the  winds 
Within  their  stony  caves,  but  rush'd  abroad 
From  the  four  hinges  of  the  world,  and  fell 
On  the  vex'd  wilderness ;  whose  tallest  pines 
Tho'  rooted  deep  as  high  and  sturdiest  oaks, 
Bowed  their  stiff  necks,  loaden  with  stormy  blasts 
Or  torn  up  sheer.     Ill  wast  Thou  shrouded  then, 
O  patient  Son  of  God,  yet  stood'st  alone 
Unshaken !  nor  yet  staid  the  terror  there ; 


BUDDHISM  AND  CERTSTIAmTT  163 

Even  the  canonical  literature,  tliat  whicli  is  sup- 
posed to  contain  the  true  history  and  teachings  of 
Buddha,  is  far  from  authoritative,  owing  to  the 
acknowledged  habit — acknowledged  even  by  the  au- 
thor of  the  "  Dhammapada  "of  adding  commentaries, 
notes,  etc.,  to  original  teachings.  Not  only  was  this 
common  among  Buddhist  writers,  but  even  more  sur- 
prising liberties  were  taken  with  the  narrative.  For 
example :  The  legend  describing  Buddha's  leave- 
taking  of  his  harem  is  clearly  borrowed  from  an 
earlier  story  of  Yasa,  a  wealthy  young  householder 
of  Benares,  who,  becoming  disgusted  with  his  harem, 
left  his  sleeping  dancing  girls  and  fled  to  the  Buddha 
for  instruction.  Davids  and  Oldenberg,  in  translat- 
ing this  legend  from  the  "  Mahavagga,"  say  in  a  note, 
"  A  well-known  incident  in  the  life  of  Buddha  has 
evidently  been  shaped  after  the  model  of  this  story ; " 
and  they  declare  that  "  nowhere  in  the  *  Pali  FitaJcas ' 
is  this  scene  of  Buddha's  leave-talcing  mentioned^ 

As  another  evidence  of  the  way  in  which  fact  and 
fiction  have  been  mixed  and  manipulated  for  a  pur- 
pose, one  of  the  legends,  which  has  often  been  pre- 
sented as  a  parallel  to  the  story  of  Christ,  represents 
the  Buddha  as  repelling  the  temptation  of  Mara  by 
quoting  texts  of  "scripture,"  and  the  scripture  re- 
ferred to  was  the  "  Dhammapada."  But  the  "Dham- 
mapada "  was  compiled  hundreds  of  years  after  Bud- 

Infernal  ghosts  and  hellish  furies  round 

Environed  Thee  ;  some  howl'd,  some  yell'd,  some  shriek' d, 

Some  bent  at  Thee  their  fiery  darts,  while  Thou 

Sat'st  unappalPd  in  calm  and  sinless  peace.'' 

Book  iv. 


IM  ^otnarTAL  mmugioss  Aim  chmistiasitt 


any  kind  m  lus  daj » lor  Bofld^g  w;a^  wnttm  till  two 
or  tiiree  OBatiHiw  kfar;  andwoBae  flAiD,  Boddhak 
Marin  tn  qpntn  liln  rnrn  imtMBrniiiffmt  tnarhtri  — ;  fortiie 
"'niiiMiMiipada*  nJahnn  In  rnwrint  nf thn  in r i1  wrailn 
of  tiM  "oBl^JkftenBd  oubl*  Most  ol  the  kgeDda  of 
AaddkiBia  awiii^olty  wjalUaa  afto  the  begimmig 
of  flie  GfadMia  eo^  and  il  caaiBQi  be  shown  that  anj 
■fULU  wzithn  Ba  liieir  pnaen^  iona  imtiil  two  or  tiiioa 
ciBilniaBoftiMlenhad elapsed.  T.  W.  Bhjs  Davids 
aajpBof  Iha  "Lalila  '^staim*  which  contah»  a  Teiy 
k^ga  pn]porliai&  of  flkBaB^aiid  one  fonaof  whidi  is 
aaid  to  hawo  beat  tnadated  inAo  Odneae  m  tiie  fiist 
oentaorj  AJDL,  **  ttai  flieie  is  oo  real  proof  tiiai  it  eziBled 
m  ita  pauwul  Iona  beiore  the  jear  GOO  ajil*  Tha 
I«8eBd- cannot  be  taoed  &iihar  bade 
fluid ontmyAJiL  CMdenbeirg  saja:  "lib 
biqgE^pi^  of  Boddfaa  hae  ooaae  down  to  os  fraaa  ait- 
OBidtiM^frnm  fliei«eoftiieEdi  texts,  and  we 
canaald^yaajlhainoandilA^gnylywaBmensiBnce 
tkBB.*  BealdDdansfliatflie  Buddhist  l^oid,  as 
fond  in  Aa  canons  Epics  of  Xepanl,  Thibel^  and 
Cftaaa^  **  is  not  feanied  aher  oft^  Indian  niodd  of  aaj 
date^  bnt  istobeloond  wotked  oni^  soto^eak,  amopg 
1MB ilaii H  |W'<n4[in,  who  weie ignfwanto^ or  jmliflwrent 
to^  He  pedantic  stones  of  flw  Skalnai&     Inflie 


axe  wanting.    Bmddka  is  mai  horn  of  a  rofftd  famSy  ; 

itiMwai  iea^pted  hifan.  Hm  mUgkkmmai;  he  worb 
ihtis  mat  a  Umiuu  md  Samomr^ 
are  deododbf  fliat  if  aaj  bonowing 
itwwon  tiiesida  ofBoddhian.    B 


BUDDHISM  Aim  CHRISTIANITY  165 

has  been  asserted  that  thirty  thonaand  Buddhist 
monks  from  Alexandria  once  irisited  Ceylon  on  tibe 
occasion  of  a  great  f  estiyaL  This  is  absurd  on  the 
face  of  it;  bnt  that  a  Christian  colony  settled  in 
Malabar  at  a  yery  early  period  is  attested  by  the 
presence  of  thousands  of  their  ibllowers  even  to  this 
day. 

In  discussing  the  specific  charge  of  copying  Buddh- 
ist l^ends  in  the  gospel  narn^yes,  we  are  met  at 
the  threshold  by  insurmonntable  improbabilities 
To  some  of  these  I  ask  a  moment's  attention.  I 
shall  not  take  the  time  to  discuss  in  detail  the  al- 
lied parallels  which  are  paraded  as  proofs.  To 
anyone  who  understands  the  spirit  of  Judaism  and 
its  attitude  toward  heathenism  of  all  kinds,  it  is 
simply  iQconceiTable  that  the  Christian  disciples, 
whose  aim  it  was  to  propagate  the  faith  of  their  Mas- 
ter in  a  Jewish  community,  should  haye  borrowed 
old  Indian  legends,  which,  by  the  terms  of  the  sap- 
position,  must  haye  been  widely  known  as  such. 
And  Buddhist  apologists  must  admit  that  it  is  a  lit- 
tle strange  that  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  were 
intelligent,  and  as  alert  as  they  were  bitter,  should 
neyer  haye  exposed  this  transparent  plagiarism,  Hie 
great  concern  of  the  Apostles  was  to  proye  to  Jews 
and  Gentiles  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ  of  Old  Tes- 
tament prophecy.  The  whole  drift  of  their  preach- 
ing and  their  epistles  went  to  show  that  the  gospel 
history  rested  squarely  and  uncompromisingly  on  a 
Jewish  basis.  Peter  and  John,  Stephen  and  Pan], 
constantly  "reasoned  with  the  Jews  out  of  their  own 
Scriptures."    How  unspeakably  absurd  is  the  notion 


166    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

that  they  were  trying  to  palm  off  on  those  keen 
Pharisees  a  Messiah  who,  though  in  the  outset  at 
Nazareth  he  publicly  traced  his  commission  to  Old 
Testament  prophecy,  was  all  the  while  copying  an 
atheistic  philosopher  of  India ! 

It  is  equally  inconceivable  that  the  Christian  fa- 
thers should  have  copied  Buddhism.  They  resisted 
Persian  mysticism  as  the  work  of  the  Devil,  and  it 
was  in  that  mysticism,  if  anywhere,  that  Buddhist 
influence  existed  in  the  Levant.  Whoever  has  reaxi 
Tertullian's  withering  condemnation  of  Marcion  may 
judge  how  far  the  fathers  of  the  Church  favored  the 
heresies  of  the  East.  Augustine  had  himself  been 
a  Manichean  mystic,  and  when  after  his  conversion 
he  became  the  great  theologian  of  the  Church,  he 
must  have  known  whether  the  teachings  of  the 
Buddha  were  being  palmed  off  on  the  Christian 
world.  The  great  leaders  of  that  age  were  men  of 
thorough  scholarship  and  of  the  deepest  moral  ear- 
nestness. Many  of  them  gave  up  their  possessions 
and  devoted  their  lives  to  the  promotion  of  the 
truths  which  they  professed.  Scores  of  them  sealed 
their  faith  by  martyr  deaths. 

But  even  if  we  were  to  accept  the  flippant  allega- 
tion that  they  were  all  impostors,  yet  we  should  be 
met  by  an  equally  insurmountable  difficulty  in  the 
utter  silence  of  the  able  and  bitter  assailants  of 
Christianity  in  the  first  two  or  three  centuries. 
Celsus  prepared  himself  for  his  well-known  attack  on 
Christianity  with  the  utmost  care,  searching  history, 
philosophy,  and  every  known  religion  from  which  he 
could  derive  an  argument  against  the  Christian  faith. 


BUDDHISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  167 

Why  did  he  not  strike  at  the  very  root  of  the  matter 
by  exposing  those  stupid  plagiarists  who  were  at- 
tempting to  play  off  upon  the  intelligence  of  the 
E-oman  world  a  clumsy  imitation  of  the  far-famed 
Buddha  ?  It  was  the  very  kind  of  thing  that  the  ene- 
mies of  Christianity  wanted.  Why  should  the  adroit 
Porphyry  attempt  to  work  up  a  few  mere  scraps  of 
resemblance  from  the  life  of  Pythagoras,  when  all  he 
had  to  do  was  to  lay  his  hand  upon  familiar  legends 
which  afforded  an  abundance  of  the  very  thing  in 
demand  ? 

Again,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  Christianity 
has  always  been  restrictive  and  opposed  to  admixt- 
ures with  other  systems.  It  repelled  the  Neo-Pla- 
tonism  of  Alexandria,  and  it  fought  for  two  or  three 
centuries  against  Gnosticism,  Manichaeism,  and  simi- 
lar heresies  :  and  the  assumption,  in  the  face  of  all 
this,  that  the  Christian  Church  went  out  of  its  way 
to  copy  Indian  Buddhism,  must  be  due  either  to 
gross  ignorance  or  to  reckless  misrepresentation. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  in  accordance  with  the 
very  genius  of  Buddhism  to  borrow.  It  has  absorbed 
every  indigenous  superstition  and  entered  into  part- 
nership with  every  local  religious  system,  from  the 
Devil  Worship  of  Burmah  and  Ceylon  to  the  Taou- 
ism  of  China  and  the  Shinto  of  Japan.  In  its 
long  -  continued  contact  with  Christianity  it  has 
changed  from  the  original  atheism  of  Gautama  to 
various  forms  of  theism,  and  in  some  of  its  sects, 
at  least,  from  a  stanch  insistance  on  self-help  alone 
to  an  out  -  and  -  out  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith. 
This  is  true  of  the  Shin  and  Yodo  sects  of  Japan, 


168     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

From  recognizing  no  God  at  all  at  first,  Buddhism 
had,  by  the  seventh  century  A.D.,  a  veritable  Trinity, 
with  attributes  resembling  those  of  the  Triune  God 
of  the  Christians,  and  by  the  tenth  century  it  had  five 
trinities  with  One  Supreme  Adi-Buddha  over  them 
all.  Everyone  may  judge  for  himseK  whether  these 
later  interpolations  of  the  system  were  borrowed 
from  the  New  Testament  Trinity,  which  had  been 
proclaimed  through  all  the  East  ten  centuries  be- 
fore. Buddhism  is  still  absorbing  foreign  elements 
through  the  aid  of  its  various  apologists.  Sir  Ed- 
win Arnold  has  greatly  added  to  the  force  of  its  le- 
gend by  the  Christian  phrases  and  Christian  concep- 
tions which  he  has  read  into  it.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  "  Light  of  Asia  "  he  also  introduces  into  the 
Buddha's  sermon  at  Kapilavastu  the  teachings  of 
Herbert  Spencer  and  others  of  our  own  time. 

But  altogether  the  most  stupendous  improbability 
lies  against  the  whole  assimiption  that  Christ  and 
his  followers  based  their  "  essential  doctrines  "  on 
the  teachings  of  the  Buddha.  The  early  Buddhism 
was  atheistic :  this  is  the  common  verdict  of  Da- 
vids, Childers,  Sir  Monier  Williams,  Kellogg,  and 
many  others.  The  Buddha  declared  that  "  without 
cause  and  unknown  is  the  life  of  man  in  this  world," 
and  he  recognized  no  higher  being  to  whom  he  owed 
reverence.  "  The  Buddhist  Catechism,"  by  Subha- 
dra,  shows  that  modem  Buddhism  has  no  recogni- 
tion of  God. 

It  says  (page  58):  "  Buddhism  teaches  the  reign 
of  perfect  goodness  and  wisdom  ivithout  a  'personal 
God,  continuance  of  individuality  without  an  immoT' 


BUDDHISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  169 

tal  soul,  eternal  happiness  without  a  local  heaven, 
the  way  of  salvation  without  a  vicarious  saviour,  re- 
demption worked  out  by  each  one  himself  without 
any  prayers,  sacrifices,  and  penances,  without  the 
ministry  of  ordained  priests,  without  the  interces- 
sion of  saints,  without  divine  mercy.''  And  then,  by 
way  of  authentication,  it  adds :  "  These,  and  many 
others  which  have  become  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Buddhist  religion,  were  recognized  by  the 
Buddha  in  the  night  of  his  enlightenment  under  the 
Boddhi-tree."  And  yet  we  are  told  that  this  is  the 
system  which  Christ  and  his  followers  copied.  Com- 
pare this  passage  with  the  Lord's  Prayer,  or  with 
the  discourse  upon  the  lilies,  and  its  lesson  of  trust 
in  God  the  Father  of  all !  I  appeal  not  merely  to 
Christian  men,  but  to  any  man  who  has  brains  and 
common-sense,  was  there  ever  so  preposterous  an  at- 
tempt to  establish  an  identity  of  doctrines  ? 

But  what  is  the  evidence  found  in  the  legends 
themselves  ?  Several  leading  Oriental  scholars,  and 
men  not  at  all  biased  in  favor  of  Christianity,  have 
carefully  examined  the  subject,  and  have  decided 
that  there  is  no  connection  whatever.  Professor 
Seydel,  of  Leipsic,  who  has  given  the  most  scien- 
tific plea  for  the  so-called  coincidences,  of  which  he 
claims  there  are  fifty-one,  has  classified  them  as: 
1,  Those  which  may  have  been  merely  accidental, 
having  arisen  from  similar  causes,  and  not  neces- 
sarily implying  any  borrowing  on  either  side;  2, 
those  which  seem  to  have  been  borrowed  from  the 
one  narrative  or  the  other ;  and  3,  those  which  he 
thinks  were  clearly  copied  by  the  Christian  writ- 


170    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ers.  In  this  last  class  he  names  but  five  out  of 
fifty-one. 

Kuenen,  who  has  little  bias  in  favor  of  Christi- 
anity, and  who  has  made  a  very  thorough  examina- 
tion of  Seydel's  parallels,  has  completely  refuted 
these  five.*  And  speaking  of  the  whole  question  he 
says :  "I  think  we  may  safely  affirm  that  we  must  ab- 
stain from  assigning  to  Buddhism  the  smallest  di- 
rect influence  on  the  origin  of  Christianity."  He 
also  says  of  similar  theories  of  de  Bunsen :  "  A  single 
instance  is  enough  to  teach  us  that  inventive  fancy 
plays  the  chief  part  in  them."  f 

Ehys  Davids,  whom  Subhadra's  "  Buddhist  Cate- 
chism "  approves  as  the  chief  exponent  of  Buddhism, 
says  on  the  same  subject :  "  I  can  find  no  evidence 
of  any  actual  or  direct  communication  of  these  ideas 
common  to  Buddhism  and  Christianity  from  the  East 
to  the  West."  Oldenberg  denies  their  early  date, 
and  Beal  denies  them  an  Indian  origin  of  any  date. 

Contrasts  between  Bvddhism  and  Christianity, 

Bhys  Davids  has  pointed  out  the  fact  that,  while 
Buddhism  in  some  points  is  more  nearly  allied  to 
Christianity  than  any  other  system,  yet  in  others  it  is 
the  farthest  possible  from  it  in  its  spirit  and  its  ten- 
dency. If  we  strike  out  those  ethical  principles  which, 
to  a  large  extent,  are  the  common  heritage  of  mankind, 
revealed  in  the  understanding  and  the  conscience,  we 
shall  find  in  what  remains  an  almost  total  contrariety 
to  the  Christian  faith.     To  give  a  few  examples  only. 

*  See  National  Religion  and  Universal  Rdigion,  p.  362. 
\  Eibhett  Lectures,  1883. 


BUDDHISM  AND  CHRISTIAlSflTT  171 

1.  Christ  taught  the  existence  and  glory  of  God 
as  Supreme,  the  Creator  and  Father,  the  righteous 
Judge.  His  supreme  mission  to  reconcile  all  men 
to  God  was  the  key-note  of  all  His  ministry.  By 
His  teaching  the  hearts  of  men  are  lifted  up  above 
all  earthly  conceptions  to  the  worship  of  infinite 
purity,  and  to  the  comforting  assurance  of  more 
than  a  father's  care  and  love.  Buddhism,  on  the 
contrary,  knows  nothing  of  God,  offers  no  heav- 
enly incentive,  no  divine  help.  Leading  scholars 
are  agreed  that,  whatever  it  may  be  now,  the  origi- 
nal orthodox  Buddhism  was  essentially  atheistic.  It 
despised  the  idea  of  divine  help,  and  taught  men  to 
rely  upon  themselves.  "While,  therefore.  Buddhism 
never  rose  above  the  level  of  earthly  resources,  and 
contemplated  only  lower  orders  of  being,  Christi- 
anity begins  with  God  as  supreme,  to  be  worshipped 
and  loved  with  all  the  heart,  mind,  and  strength, 
while  our  neighbors  are  to  be  loved  as  ourselves. 

2.  Christ  represented  HimseK  as  having  pre- 
existed from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  as  having 
been  equal  with  God  in  the  glory  of  heaven,  all  of 
which  He  resigned  that  He  might  enter  upon  the 
humiliation  of  our  earthly  state,  and  raise  us  up 
to  eternal  life.  He  distinctly  claimed  oneness  and 
equality  with  the  Father.  Buddha  claimed  no  such 
antecedent  glory;  he  spoke  of  himself  as  a  man 
merely ;  the  whole  aim  of  his  teaching  was  to  show 
in  himself  what  every  man  might  accomplish.  Later 
legends  ascribe  to  him  a  sort  of  pre-existence,  in 
which  five  hundred  and  thirty  successive  lives  were 
passed,  sometimes  as  a  man,  sometimes  as  a  god, 


172    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  0HRI8TIANITT 

many  times  as  an  animal.  But  even  these  claims 
were  not  made  by  Buddha  himself — except  so  far  as 
was  implied  by  the  common  doctrine  of  transmigra- 
tion. 

Furthermore,  in  relation  to  the  alleged  pre-exist- 
ences,  according  to  strict  Buddhist  doctrine  it  was 
not  really  he  who  had  gone  before,  it  was  only  a 
Kharma  or  character  that  had  exchanged  hands  many 
times  before  it  could  be  taken  up  by  the  real  and  con- 
scious Buddha  born  upon  the  earth.  Still  further, 
even  after  the  beginning  of  his  earthly  life  he  lived 
for  many  years  in  what,  according  to  his  own  teach- 
ing, was  heinous  sin,  all  of  which  is  fatal  to  the 
theory  of  pre-existent  holiness. 

3.  Christ  is  a  real  Saviour ;  His  atonement  claimed 
to  be  a  complete  ransom  from  the  penalty  of  sin,  and 
by  His  teaching  and  example,  and  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  He  overcomes  the  power  of  sin  itself, 
transforming  the  soul  into  His  own  image.  Buddha, 
on  the  other  hand,  did  not  claim  to  achieve  salva- 
tion for  any  except  himself,  though  Mr.  Arnold  and 
others  constantly  use  such  terms  as  "help"  and 
"  salvation."  Nothing  of  the  kind  is  claimed  by  the 
early  Buddhist  doctrines ;  they  plainly  declare  that 
purity  and  impurity  belong  to  one's  self,  and  that 
no  one  can  purify  another. 

4.  Christ  emphatically  declared  HimseK  a  helper, 
even  in  this  life :  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  He 
promised  also  to  send  his  Spirit  as  a  comforter,  as  a 
supporter  of  his  disciples'  faith,  as  a' guide  and  teach- 
er, at  all  times  caring  for  their  needj  in  whatever 


BUDDHISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  173 

exigency  his  grace  would  be  sufficient  for  them.  On 
the  contrary,  Buddha  taught  his  followers  that  no 
power  in  heaven  or  earth  could  help  them ;  the  vic- 
tory must  be  their  own.  "  How  can  we  hope  to  amend 
a  life,"  says  Bishop  Carpenter,  "  which  is  radically 
bad,  by  the  aid  of  a  system  which  teaches  that  man's 
highest  aim  should  be  to  escape  from  life  ?  All  that 
has  been  said  against  the  ascetic  and  non-worldly  at- 
titude of  Christianity  might  be  urged  with  additional 
force  against  Buddhism.  It  is  full  of  the  strong, 
sweet,  pathetic  compassion  which  looks  upon  life 
with  eyes  full  of  tears,  but  only  to  turn  them  away 
from  it  again,  as  from  an  unsolved  and  insoluble  rid- 
dle." And  he  substantiates  his  position  by  quoting 
Eeville  and  Oldenberg.  Keville  reaches  this  simi- 
lar conclusion  :  "  Buddhism,  bom  on  the  domain  of 
polytheism,  has  fought  against  it,  not  by  rising 
above  nature  in  subordinating  it  to  a  single  sover- 
eign spirit,  but  by  reproving  nature  in  principle,  and 
condemning  life  itseK  as  an  evil  and  a  misfortune. 
Buddhism  does  not  measure  itself  against  this  or 
that  abuse,  does  not  further  the  development  or 
reformation  of  society,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
for  the  very  simple  reason  that  it  turns  away  from 
the  world  on  principle." 

Oldenberg,  one  of  the  most  thorough  of  Pali  schol- 
ars, says :  "  For  the  lower  order  of  the  people,  for 
those  born  to  toil  in  manual  labor,  hardened  by  the 
struggle  for  existence,  the  annoimcement  of  the  con- 
nection of  misery  with  all  forms  of  existence  was  not 
made,  nor  was  the  dialectic  of  the  law  of  the  painful 
concatenation  of  causes  and  effects  calculated  to  sat- 


174    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

isfy  *the  poor  in  spirit.'  [*  To  the  wise  belongeth  this 
law,'  it  is  said,  '  not  to  the  foolish.'  Very  unlike  the 
work  of  that  Man  who '  suffered  little  children  to  come 
unto  Him,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God.'  For 
children,  and  those  who  are  like  children,  the  arms 
of  Buddha  are  not  opened." 

5.  Christ  and  his  disciples  set  before  men  the 
highest  motives  of  life.  The  great  end  of  man  was 
to  love  God  supremely,  and  one's  neighbor  as  him- 
seK.  Every  true  disciple  was  to  consider  himself  an 
almoner  and  dispenser  of  the  divine  goodness  to 
his  race.  It  was  this  that  inspired  the  sublime  de- 
votion of  Paul  and  of  thousands  since  his  time.  It 
is  the  secret  principle  of  all  the  noblest  deeds  of 
men.  Gautama  had  no  such  high  and  unselJ&sh  aim. 
He  found  no  inspiring  motive  above  the  level  of 
humanity.  His  system  concentrates  all  thought  and 
effort  on  one's  own  life — virtually  on  the  attainment 
of  utter  indifference  to  all  things  else.  The  early 
zeal  of  Gautama  and  his  followers  in  preaching  to 
their  fellow-men  was  inconsistent  with  the  plain  doc- 
trines taught  at  a  later  day.  If  in  any  case  there 
were  those  who,  like  Paul,  burned  with  desire  to 
save  their  fellow-men,  all  we  can  say  is,  they  were  bet- 
ter than  their  creed.  Such  was  the  spirit  of  the  Gos- 
pel, rather  than  the  idle  and  useless  torpor  of  the 
Buddhist  order.  "Here,  according  to  Buddhists," 
says  Spence  Hardy,  "  is  a  mere  code  of  proprieties, 
an  occasional  opiate,  a  plan  for  being  free  from  dis- 
comfort, a  system  for  personal  profit."  Buddhism 
certainly  taught  the  repression  of  human  activity  and 
influence.    Instead  of  saying,   "Let  your  light  so 


BUDDHISM  AND  CHBISTIANITT  175 

shine  before  men  that  they,  seeing  your  good  works, 
may  glorify  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven,"  or  "Work 
while  the  day  lasts,"  it  said,  "If  thou  keepest  thy- 
self silent  as  a  broken  gong,  thou  hast  attained  Nir- 
vana." "  To  wander  about  like  the  rhinoceros  alone," 
was  enjoined  as  the  pathway  of  true  wisdom. 

6.  Christ  taught  that  life,  though  attended  with 
fearful  alternatives,  is  a  glorious  birthright,  with 
boundless  possibilities  and  promise  of  good  to  our- 
selves and  others.  Buddhism  makes  life  an  evil 
which  it  is  the  supreme  end  of  man  to  conquer  and 
cut  off  from  the  disaster  of  re-birth.  Christianity 
opens  a  path  of  usefulness,  holiness,  and  happiness 
in  this  life,  and  a  career  of  triumph  and  glory  in  the 
endless  ages  to  come.  Both  Buddhism  and  Hindu- 
ism are  worse  than  other  pessimistic  systems  in  their 
fearful  law  of  entailment  through  countless  transmi- 
grations, each  of  which  must  be  a  struggle. 

7.  Christ,  according  to  the  New  Testament,  "  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us,"  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  represents  Him  constantly  as  an  ever-living 
power  in  the  world,  to  regenerate,  save,  and  bless. 
But  Buddha  is  dead,  and  his  very  existence  is  a  thing 
of  the  past.  Only  traditions  and  the  influence  of  his 
example  can  help' men  in  the  struggle  of  life.  Said 
Buddha  to  his  disciples  :  "  As  a  flame  blown  by  vio- 
lence goes  out  and  cannot  be  reckoned,  even  so  a 
Buddha  delivered  from  name  and  body  disappears 
and  cannot  be  reckoned  as  existing."  Again,  he 
said  to  his  Order,  "Mendicants,  that  which  binds 
the  Teacher  (himself)  is  cut  off,  but  his  body  still 
remains.     While  this  body  shall  remain  he  will  be 


176    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITY 

seen  by  gods  and  men,  but  after  the  termination  of 
life,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  body,  neither  gods 
nor  men  shall  see  him." 

8.  Christ  taught  the  saeredness  of  the  human 
body.  **  Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you  ?  "  said  His  great 
Apostle.  But  Buddhism  says :  "As  men  deposit 
filth  upon  a  dungheap  and  depart  regretting  nothing, 
wanting  nothing,  so  will  I  depart  leaving  this  body 
filled  with  vile  vapors."  Christ  and  His  disciples 
taught  the  triumphant  resurrection  of  the  body  in 
spiritual  form  and  purity  after  His  own  image. 
The  Buddhist  forsakes  utterly  and  forever  the  de- 
serted, cast-off  mortality,  while  still  he  looks  only  for 
another  habitation  equally  mortal  and  corruptible, 
and  possibly  that  of  a  lower  animal.  Thus,  through 
all  these  lines  of  contrast,  and  many  others  that 
might  be  named,  there  appear  light  and  life  and 
blessedness  on  the  one  hand,  and  gloom  and  desola- 
tion on  the  other. 

The  gloomy  nature  of  Buddhism  is  well  expressed 
in  Hardy's  "  Legends  and  Theories  of  Buddhism" 
as  follows  :  "  The  system  of  Buddhism  is  humiliat- 
ing, cheerless,  man-marring,  soul-crushing.  It  tells 
me  that  I  am  not  a  reality,  that  I  have  no  soul.  It 
tells  me  that  there  is  no  unalloyed  happiness,  no 
plenitude  of  enjoyment,  no  perfect  unbroken  peace 
in  the  possession  of  any  being  whatever,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  in  any  world.  It  tells  me  that 
I  may  live  myriads  of  millions  of  ages,  and  that  not 
in  any  of  those  ages,  nor  in  any  portion  of  any  age, 
can  I  be  free  from  apprehension  as  to  the  future,  un- 


BUDDHISM  AND  GHRISTIANITT  177 

til  I  attain  to  a  state  of  unconsciousness ;  and  that  in 
order  to  arrive  at  this  consummation  I  must  turn 
away  from  all  that  is  pleasant,  or  lovely,  or  instruc- 
tive, or  elevating,  or  sublime.  It  tells  me  by  voices 
ever  repeated,  like  the  ceaseless  sound  of  the  sea- 
wave  on  the  shore,  that  I  shall  be  subject  to  sorrow, 
impermanence,  and  unreality  so  long  as  I  exist,  and 
yet  that  I  cannot  cease  to  exist,  nor  for  countless 
ages  to  come,  as  I  can  only  attain  nirvana  in  the 
time  of  a  Supreme  Buddha.  In  my  distress  I  ask 
for  the  sympathy  of  an  all-wise  and  all-powerful 
friend.  But  I  am  mocked  instead  by  the  semblance 
of  relief,  and  am  told  to  look  to  Buddha,  who  has 
ceased  to  exist ;  to  the  Dharma  that  never  was  in 
existence,  and  to  the  Sangha,  the  members  of  which 
are  real  existences,  but  like  myself  are  partakers  of 
sorrow  and  sin." 

How  shall  we  measure  the  contrast  between  all 
this  and  the  ecstacies  of  Christian  hope,  which  in 
various  forms  are  expressed  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul ; 
the  expected  crown  of  righteousness,  the  eternal 
weight  of  glory ;  heirship  with  Christ  in  an  endless 
inheritance ;  the  house  not  made  with  hands ;  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  first  bom  ?  Even  in  the 
midst  of  earthly  sorrows  and  persecutions  he  could 
say,  "Nay,  in  all  things  we  are  more  than  conquer- 
ors through  Him  that  loved  us.  For  I  am  per- 
suaded that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor 
principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor 
things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love 
of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  our  Lord." 
13 


LECTUEE  YE. 

MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

It  lia^  been  the  fate  of  every  great  religious  teacher 
to  have  his  memory  enveloped  in  a  haze  of  posthu- 
mous myths.  Even  the  Gospel  history  was  embel- 
lished with  marvellous  apocryphal  legends  of  the 
childhood  of  Christ.  Buddhism  very  soon  began  to 
be  overgrown  with  a  truly  Indian  luxuriance  of  fables, 
miracles,  and  pre-existent  histories  extending  through 
five  hundred  past  transmigrations.  In  like  manner, 
the  followers  of  Mohammed  traced  the  history  of  their 
prophet  and  of  their  sacred  city  back  to  the  time  of 
Adam.  And  Mohammedan  legends  were  not  a  slow 
and  natural  growth,  as  in  the  case  of  most  other  faiths. 
There  was  a  set  purpose  in  producing  them  without 
much  delay.  The  conquests  of  Islam  over  the  East- 
em  empires  had  been  very  rapid.  'The  success  of 
Mohammed's  cause  and  creed  had  exceeded  the  ex- 
pectations of  his  most  sanguine  followers.  In  the 
first  half  of  the  seventh  century — nay,  between  the 
years  630  and  638  a.d. — Jerusalem,  Damascus,  and 
Aleppo  had  fallen  before  the  arms  of  Omar  and  his 
lieutenant  "  Khaled  the  Invincible,"  and  in  639  Egypt 
was  added  to  the  realm  of  the .  Khalif s.  Persia  was 
conquered  in  a.d.  640. 

It  seemed  scarcely  possible  that  achievements  so 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    179 

brilliant  could  have  been  the  work  of  a  mere  unlet- 
tered Arab  and  his  brave  but  unpretentious  successors. 
The  personnel  of  the  prophet  must  be  raised  to  an 
adequate  proportion  to  such  a  history.  Special  re- 
quisition was  made  therefore  for  incidents.  The 
devout  fancy  of  the  faithful  was  taxed  for  the  pictur- 
esque and  marvellous ;  and  the  system  which  Mo- 
hammed taught,  and  the  very  place  in  which  he  was 
bom,  must  needs  be  raised  to  a  supernatural  dignity 
and  importance.  Accordingly,  the  history  of  the 
prophet  was  traced  back  to  the  creation  of  the  world, 
when  God  was  said  to  have  imparted  to  a  certain 
small  portion  of  earthy  dust  a  mysterious  spark  of 
light.  When  Adam  was  formed  this  particular  lu- 
minous dust  appeared  in  his  forehead,  and  from  him 
it  passed  in  a  direct  line  to  Abraham.  From  Abra- 
ham it  descended,  not  to  Isaac,  but  to  Ishmael ;  and 
this  was  the  cause  of  Sarah's  jealousy  and  the  secret 
of  all  Abraham's  domestic  troubles.  Of  course,  this 
bright  spark  of  heavenly  effulgence  reappearing  on 
the  brow  of  each  lineal  progenitor,  was  designed  ulti- 
mately for  Mohammed,  in  whom  it  shone  forth  with 
tenfold  brightness. 

There  is  real  historic  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the 
Vale  of  Mecca  had  for  a  long  time  been  regarded  as 
sacred  ground.  It  was  a  sort  of  forest  or  extensive 
grove,  a  place  for  holding  treaties  among  the  tribes, 
a  common  ground  of  truce  and  a  refuge  from  th6 
avenger.  It  was  also  a  place  for  holding  annual  fairs, 
for  public  harangues,  and  the  competitive  recitation 
of  ballads  and  other  poems.  But  all  this,  however 
creditable  to  the  culture  of  the  Arab  tribes,  was  not 


180    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  0HRI8TIANITT 

sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  Islam.  The  Kaaba, 
which  had  been  a  rude  heathen  temple,  was  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  a  shrine  of  the  true  God,  or  rather 
it  was  restored,  for  it  was  said  to  have  been  built  by 
Adam  after  a  divine  pattern.  The  story  was  this :  At 
the  time  of  the  Fall,  Adam  and  Eve  had  somehow 
become  separated.  Adam  had  wandered  away  to 
Ceylon,  where  a  mountain  peak  still  bears  his  name. 
But  having  been  divinely  summoned  to  Mecca  to 
erect  this  first  of  earthly  temples,  he  unexpectedly 
found  Eve  residing  upon  a  hill  near  the  city,  and 
thenceforward  the  Yalley  of  Mecca  became  their  para- 
dise regained.  At  the  time  of  the  Deluge  the  Kaaba 
was  buried  in  mud,  and  for  centuries  afterward  it  was 
overgrown  with  trees. 

When  Hagar  and  her  son  Ishmael  were  driven  out 
from  the  household  of  Abraham,  they  wandered  by 
chance  to  this  very  spot,  desolate  and  forsaken. 
While  Hagar  was  diligently  searching  for  water, 
more  anxious  to  save  the  life  of  her  son  than  her 
own,  Ishmael,  boy-like,  sat  poking  the  sand  with  his 
heel ;  when,  behold,  a  spring  of  water  bubbled  up  in 
his  footprint.  And  this  was  none  other  than  the 
sacred  well  Zemzem,  whose  brackish  waters  are 
still  eagerly  sought  by  every  Moslem  pilgrim.  As 
Ishmael  grew  to  manhood  and  established  his  home 
in  the  sacred  city,  Abraham  was  summoned  to  join 
him,  that  they  together  might  rebuild  the  Kaaba. 
But  in  the  succeeding  generations  apostacy  again 
brought  ruin  upon  the  place,  although  the  heathen 
Koreish  still  performed  sacred  rites  there — especially 
that  of  sevenfold  processions  aroimd  the  sacred  stone. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    181 

This  blackened  object,  supposed  to  be  an  aerolite 
which  fell  ages  ago,  is  still  regarded  as  sacred,  and 
the  sevenfold  circuits  of  Mohammedan  pilgrims  take 
the  place  of  the  ancient  heathen  rites. 

Laying  aside  these  crude  legends,  and  confining 
our  attention  to  probable  history,  I  can  only  hope,  in 
the  compass  of  a  single  lecture,  to  barely  touch  upon 
a  series  of  prominent  points  without  any  very  careful 
regard  to  logical  order.   This  will  perhaps  insure  the 
greatest  clearness  as  well  as  the  best  economy  of  time. 
And  first,  we  will  glance  at  the  personal  history  of 
Mohammed  —  a  history,  it  should  be  remembered, 
which  was  not  committed  to  writing  till  two  hundred 
years  after  the  prophet's  death,  and  which  depends 
wholly  on  the  enthusiastic  traditions  of  his  follow- 
ers. Bom  in  the  year  561  A.D.,  of  a  recently  widowed 
mother,  he  appears  to  have  been  from  the  first  a 
victim  of  epilepsy,  or  some  kindred  affection  whose 
paroxysms  had  much  to  do  with  his  subsequent  ex- 
periences and  his   success.     The  various  tribes  of 
Arabia  were  mostly  given  to  a  form  of  polytheistic 
idolatry  in  which,  however,  the  conception  of  a  mono- 
theistic supremacy  was  still  recognized.   Most  schol- 
ars, including  Eenan,  insist  on  ascribing  to  the  Ara- 
bians, in  common  with  all  other  Shemitic  races,  a 
worship  of  one  God  as  Supreme,  though  the  Arabian 
Allah,  like  the  Baal  of  Canaan  and  Phoenicia,  was 
supposed  to  beJattended  by  numerous  inferior  deities. 
Though  Islam  undoubtedly  borrowed  the  staple  of 
its  truths  from  the  Old  Testament,  yet  there  was  a 
short  confession  strikingly  resembling  the  modem 
creed  of  to-day,  which  had  been  upon  the  lips  of 


182    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

many  generations  of  Arabians  before  Mohammed's 
time.  Thus  it  ran:  "I  dedicate  my seK  to  thy  ser- 
vice, O  Allah.  Thou  hast  no  companion  except  the 
companion  of  whom  thou  art  master  and  of  whatever 
is  his." 

A  society  known  as  the  "  Hanifs "  existed  at  the 
time  of  Mohammed's  early  manhood,  and  we  know 
not  how  long  before,  whose  aim  was  to  bring  back 
their  countrymen  from  the  degrading  worship  and 
cruel  practices  of  heathenism  to  the  purity  of  mono- 
theistic worship.  The  old  faith  had  been  reinforced 
in  the  minds  of  the  more  intelligent  Arabs  by  the 
truths  learned  from  Jewish  exiles,  who,  as  early  as 
the  Babylonish  captivity,  had  found  refuge  in  Arabia ; 
and  it  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  four  Hanif  leaders 
whom  the  young  Mohammed  found  on  joining  their 
society,  were  pleading  for  the  restoration  of  the  faith 
of  Abraham.  All  these  leaders  refused  to  follow  his 
standard  when  he  began  to  claim  supremacy  as  a 
prophet ;  three  of  them  were  finally  led  to  Christian- 
ity, and  the  fourth  died  in  a  sort  of  quandary  between 
the  Christian  faith  and  Islam.  The  first  two,  Waraka 
and  Othman,  were  cousins  of  Mohammed's  wife,  and 
the  third,  Obadulla,  was  his  own  cousin.  Zaid,  the 
last  of  the  four,  presents  to  us  a  very  pathetic  pict- 
ure. He  lived  and  died  in  perplexity.  Banished 
from  Mecca  by  those  who  feared  his  conscientious 
censorship,  he  lived  by  himself  on  a  neighboring  hill- 
side, an  earnest  seeker  after  truth  to  the  last ;  and 
he  died  with  the  prayer  on  his  lips,  "  O  God,  if  I 
knew  what  form  of  worship  is  most  pleasing  to  thee, 
so  would  I  serve  thee,  but  I  know  it  not."    It  is  to 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    183 

the  credit  of  Mohammed  that  he  cherished  a  pro- 
found respect  for  this  man.  "  I  will  pray  for  him," 
he  said ;  "  in  the  Eesurrection  he  also  will  gather  a 
church  around  him."^ 

In  spite  of  his  maladies  and  the  general  delicacy 
of  his  nervous  organization,  Mohammed  evinced  in 
early  youth  a  degree  of  energy  and  intellectual  ca- 
pacity which  augured  well  for  his  future  success  in 
some  important  sphere.  Fortune  also  favored  him 
in  many  ways.  His  success  as  manager  of  the  com- 
mercial caravans  of  a  wealthy  widow  led  to  his  accept- 
ance as  her  husband.  She  was  fourteen  years  his 
senior,  but  she  seems  to  have  entirely  won  his  affec- 
tions and  to  have  proved  indispensable,  not  only  ^s 
a  patroness,  but  as  a  wise  and  faithful  counsellor. 
So  long  as  she  lived  she  was  the  good  spirit  who 
called  forth  his  better  nature,  and  kept  him  from 
those  low  impulses  which  subsequently  wrought  the 
ruin  of  his  character,  even  in  the  midst  of  his  suc- 
cesses. On  the  one  hand,  it  is  an  argimaent  in  favor 
of  the  sincerity  of  Mohammed's  prophetic  claims,  that 
this  good  and  true  woman  was  the  first  to  believe  in 
him  as  a  prophet  of  God ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
must  remember  that  she  was  a  loving  wife,  and  that 
that  charity  which  thinketh  no  evil  is  sometimes  ut- 
terly blind  to  evil  when  found  in  this  tender  relation. 

We  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Mohammed  was 
a  sincere  "  Hanif."  Having  means  and  leisure  for 
study,  and  being  of  a  bright  and  thoughtful  mind,  he 
doubtless  entered  with  enthusiasm  into  the  work  of 
reforming  the  idolatrous  customs  of  his  countrymen. 
*  Sprenger's  Life  of  Mohammed^  pp.  40,  41. 


184:    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

From  this  high  standpoint,  and  free  from  supersti- 
tious fear  of  a  heathen  priesthood,  he  was  prepared 
to  estimate  in  their  true  enormity  the  degrading 
rites  which  he  everywhere  witnessed  under  the 
abused  name  of  religion.  That  hatred  of  idolatry 
which  became  the  main  spring  of  his  subsequent 
success,  was  thus  nourished  and  strengthened  as  an 
honest  and  abiding  sentiment.  He  was,  moreover,  of 
a  contemplative — we  may  say,  of  a  religious — turn  of 
mind.  His  maladies  gave  him  a  tinge  of  melan- 
choly, and,  like  the  Buddha,  he  showed  a  characteris- 
tic thoughtfulness  bordering  upon  the  morbid.  Be- 
coming more  and  more  a  reformer,  he  followed  the 
example  of  many  other  reformers  by  withdrawing  at 
stated  times  to  a  place  of  solitude  for  meditation  ;  at 
least  such  is  the  statement  of  his  followers,  though 
there  are  evidences  that  he  took  his  family  with  him, 
and  that  he  may  have  been  seeking  refuge  from  the 
heat.  However  this  may  have  been,  the  place  chosen 
was  a  neighboring  cave,  in  whose  cool  shade  he  not 
only  spent  the  heated  hours  of  the  day,  but  sometimes 
a  succession  of  days  and  nights. 

Perhaps  the  confinement  increased  the  violence  of 
his  convulsions,  and  the  vividness  and  power  of  the 
strange  phantasmagorias  which  during  his  parox- 
ysms passed  through  his  mind.  It  was  from  one  of 
these  terrible  attacks  that  his  alleged  call  to  the 
prophetic  office  was  dated.  The  prevailing  theories 
of  his  time  ascribed  all  such  experiences  to  the 
influence  of  supernatural  spirits,  either  good  or  evil, 
and  the  sufferer  was  left  to  the  alternative  of  as- 
suming either  that  he  had  received  messages  from 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    185 

heaven,  or  that  he  had  been  a  victim  of  the  devil. 
After  a  night  of  greater  suffering  and  more  thrill- 
ing visions  than  he  had  ever  experienced  before, 
Mohammed  chose  the  more  favorable  interpretation, 
and  annomiced  to  his  sympathizing  wife  Kadijah  that 
he  had  received  from  Gabriel  a  solemn  call  to  become 
the  Prophet  of  God. 

There  has  been  endless  discussion  as  to  how  far 
he  may  have  been  self -deceived  in  making  this  claim, 
and  how  far  he  may  have  been  guilty  of  conscious 
imposture.  Speculation  is  useless,  since  on  the  one 
hand  we  cannot  judge  a  man  of  that  age  and  that 
race  by  the  rigid  standards  of  our  own  times ;  and  on 
the  other,  we  are  forbidden  to  form  a  too  favorable 
judgment  by  the  subsequent  developments  of  Mo- 
hammed's character  and  life,  in  regard  to  which  no 
other  interpretation  than  that  of  conscious  fraud 
seems  possible.* 

Aside  from  the  previous  development  and  influ- 
ence of  a  monotheistic  reform,  and  the  favoring  cir- 
cumstance of  a  fortunate  marriage,  he  found  his  way 
prepared  by  the  truths  which  had  been  made  known 
in  Arabia  by  both  Jews  and  Christians.  The  Jews 
had  fled  to  the  Arabian  Peninsula  from  the  various 
conquerors  who  had  laid  waste  Jerusalem  and  over- 
run the  territories  of  the  Ten  Tribes.  At  a  later  day, 
many  Christians  had  also  found  an  asylum  there 

*  It  is  a  suspicious  fact  that  the  first  chapter  of  the  Koran  be- 
gins with  protestations  that  it  is  a  true  revelation,  and  with  most 
terrible  anathemas  against  all  who  doubt  it.  This  seems  signifi- 
cant, and  contrasts  strongly  with  the  conscious  truthfulness  and 
simplicity  of  the  Gospel  narrators. 


186     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

from  the  persecutions  of  hostile  bishops  and  em- 
perors. Sir  William  Mnir  has  shown  how  largely 
the  teachings  of  the  Koran  are  grounded  upon  those 
of  the  Old  aad  New  Testaments.*  All  that  is  best 
in  Mohammedanism  is  clearly  borrowed  from  Juda- 
ism and  Christianity.  Mohammed  was  illiterate  and 
never  claimed  originality.  Indeed,  he  plead  his  il- 
literacy as  a  proof  of  direct  inspiration.  A  far  bet- 
ter explanation  would  be  found  in  the  knowledge 
derived  from  inspired  records,  penned  long  before 
and  under  different  names. 

The  prophet  was  fortunate  not  only  in  the  posses- 
sion of  truths  thus  indirectly  received,  but  in  the 
fact  that  both  Jews  and  Christians  had  lapsed  from 
a  fair  representation  of  the  creeds  which  they  pro- 
fessed. The  Jews  in  Arabia  had  lost  the  true  spirit 
of  their  sacred  scriptures,  and  were  following  their 
own  perverted  traditions  rather  than  the  oracles  of 
God.  They  had  lost  the  vitality  and  power  of  the 
truths  revealed  to  their  fathers,  and  were  destitute  of 
moral  earnestness  and  all  spiritual  life.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Christian  sects  had  fallen  into  low 

*  Nor  have  later  defenders  of  the  system  failed  to  derive  al- 
leged proofs  of  their  system  from  Biblical  sources.  Mohammedan 
controversialists  have  urged  some  very  specious  and  plausible  ar- 
guments ;  for  example,  Deut.  xviii.  15-18,  promises  that  the  Lord 
shall  raise  up  unto  Israel  a  prophet  from  among  their  brethren. 
But  Israel  had  no  brethren  but  the  sons  of  Ishmael.  There  was 
also  promised  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses  ;  but  Deut.  xxxiv.  de- 
clares that  **  There  arose  no  Prophet  in  Israel  like  unto  Moses." 

When  John  the  Baptist  was  asked  whether  he  were  the  Christ, 
or  Elijah,  or  *^t?iat  propTiet^"  no  other  than  Mohammed  could 
have  been  meant  by  '*  that  prophet.*^ 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    187 

superstitions  and  virtual  idolatry.  The  Trinity,  as 
they  represented  it,  gave  to  Mohammed  the  impres- 
sion that  the  Virgin  Mary,  "Mother  of  God,"  was 
one  of  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity,  and  that  the 
promise  of  the  coming  Paraclete  might  very  plausibly 
be  appropriated  by  himsell*  The  prevailing  worship 
of  pictures,  images,  and  relics  appeared  in  his  vision 
as  truly  idolatrous  as  the  polytheism  of  the  heathen 
Koreish.  It  was  clear  to  him  that  there  was  a  call 
for  some  zealous  iconoclast  to  rise  up  and  deliver  his 
country  from  idolatry.  The  whole  situation  seemed 
auspicious.  Arabia  was  ripe  for  a  sweeping  refor- 
mation. It  appears  strange  to  us,  at  this  late  day, 
that  the  churches  of  Christendom,  even  down  to  the 
seventh  century,  should  have  failed  to  christianize 
Arabia,  though  they  had  carried  the  Gospel  even  to 
Spain  and  to  Britain  on  the  west,  and  to  India  and 
China  on  the  east.  If  they  had  imagined  that  the 
deserts  of  the  Peninsula  were  not  sufficiently  impor- 
tant to  demand  attention,  they  certainly  learned 
their  mistake ;  for  now  the  sad  day  of  reckoning  had 
come,  when  swarms  of  fanatics  should  issue  from 
those  deserts  like  locusts,  and  overrun  their  Chris- 
tian communities,  humble  their  bishops,  appropriate 
their  sacred  temples,  and  reduce  their  despairing 
people  to  the  alternatives  of  apostacy,  tribute,  slav- 
ery, or  the  sword. 

It  seems  equally  strange  that  the  great  empires 
which  had  carried  their  conquests  so  far  on  every 

*  Rev.  Mr.  Brnce,  missionary  in  Persia,  states  that  pictures  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  Mary  are  still  seen  in  Eastern  churches. 
—  Church  Missionary  InteUi^^nc^r^  January,  1882. 


188     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

hand  had  neglected  to  conquer  Arabia.  It  was,  in- 
deed, comparatively  isolated  ;  it  certainly  did  not  lie 
in  the  common  paths  of  the  conquerors ;  doubtless 
it  appeared  barren,  and  by  no  means  a  tempting 
prize ;  and  withal  it  was  a  difficult  field  for  a  success- 
ful campaign.  •  But  from  whatever  reason,  the  tribes 
of  Arabia  had  never  been  conquered.  Various  expe- 
ditions had  won  temporary  successes,  but  the  proud 
Arab  could  boast  that  his  country  had  never  been 
brought  into  permanent  subjection.*  Meanwhile  the 
heredity  of  a  thousand  years  had  strengthened  the 
valor  of  the  Arab  warrior.  He  was  accustomed  to 
the  saddle  from  his  very  infancy ;  he  was  almost  a 
part  of  his  horse.  He  was  trained  to  the  use  of 
arms  as  a  robber,  when  not  engaged  in  tribal  wars. 
His  whole  activity,  his  all-absorbing  interest,  was  in 
hostile  forays.  He  knew  no  fear ;  he  had  no  scru- 
ples. He  had  been  taught  to  feel  that,  as  a  son  of 
Ishmael  every  man's  hand  was  turned  against  him, 
and  of  simple  right  his  hand  might  be  turned  against 
every  man. 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  surrounding  nations,  east 
and  west,  had  long  been  accustomed  to  employ  these 
sons  of  the  desert  as  mercenary  soldiers.  They  had 
all  had  a  hand  in  training  them  for  their  terrible 
work,  by  imparting  to  them  a  knowledge  of  their  re- 
spective coimtries,  their  resources,  their  modes  of 
warfare,  and  their  points  of  weakness.     How  many^ 

*  Sales,  in  his  Preliminary  Discourse^  Section  1st,  enumerates  the 
great  nations  which  have  vainly  attempted  the  conquest  of  Arabia^ 
from  the  Assyrians  down  to  the  Romans,  and  he  asserts  that  even 
the  Turks  have  held  only  a  nominal  sway. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    189 

nations  have  thus  paved  the  way  to  their  own  de- 
struction by  calling  in  allies,  who  finally  became 
their  masters !  * 

On  Mohammed's  part,  there  is  no  evidence  that  at 
the  outset  he  contemplated  a  military  career.  At 
first  a  reformer,  then  a  prophet,  he  was  driven  to 
arms  in  self-defence  against  his  persecutors,  and  he 
was  fortunate  in  being  able  to  profit  by  a  certain 
jealousy  which  existed  between  the  rival  cities  of 
Mecca  and  Medina.  Fleeing  from  Mecca  with  only 
one  follower,  Abu  Bekr,  leaving  the  faithful  Ali  to 
arrange  his  affairs  while  he  and  his  companion  were 
hidden  in  a  cave,  he  found  on  reaching  Medina  a 
more  favorable  reception.  He  soon  gathered  a  fol- 
lowing, which  enabled  him  to  gain  a  truce  from  the 
Meccans  for  ten  years  ;  and  when  they  on  their  part 
violated  the  truce,  he  was  able  to  march  upon  their 
city  with  a  force  which  defied  all  possible  resistance, 
and  he  entered  Mecca  in  triumph.  Medina  had 
been  won  partly  by  the  supposed  credentials  of  the 
prophet,  but  mainly  by  jealousy  of  the  rival  city. 
Mecca  yielded  to  a  superior  force  of  arms,  but  in  the 
end  became  the  honored  capital  and  shrine  of  Islam. 

From  this  time  the  career  of  Mohammed  was 
wholly  changed.  He  was  now  an  ambitious  conquer- 
or, and  here  as  before,  the  question  how  far  he  may 
have  sincerely  interpreted  his  remarkable  fortune  as 
arcall  of  God  to  subdue  the  idolatrous  nations,  must 
remain  for  the  present  unsettled.  Possibly  further 
light  may  be  thrown  upon  it  as  we  proceed.     Let  us 

*  China  owes  her  present  dynasty  to  the  fact  that  the  hardy 
Manchus  were  called  in  as  mercenaries  or  as  allies. 


190     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

consider  some  of  the  changes  which  appear  in  the 
development  of  this  man's  character.  If  we  set  out 
with  that  high  ideal  which  would  seem  to  be  de- 
manded as  a  characteristic  of  a  great  religious 
teacher,  and  certainly  of  one  claiming  to  be  a 
prophet  of  God,  we  ought  to  expect  that  his  char- 
acter would  steadily  improve  in  all  purity,  humanity, 
truthfulness,  charity,  and  godlikeness.  The  test  of 
character  lies  in  its  trend.  If  the  founder  of  a 
religion  has  not  grown  nobler  and  better  under  the 
operation  of  his  own  system,  that  fact  is  the  strong- 
est possible  condemnation  of  the  system.  A  good 
man  generally  feels  that  he  can  afford  to  be  mag- 
nanimous and  pitiful  in  proportion  to  his  victories 
and  his  success.  But  Mohammed  became  relent- 
less as  his  power  increased.  He  had  at  first  endeav- 
ored to  win  the  Arabian  Jews  to  his  standard.  He 
had  adopted  their  prophets  and  much  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment teachings ;  he  had  insisted  upon  the  virtual  iden- 
tity of  the  two  religions.  But  having  failed  in  his  over- 
tures, and  meanwhile  having  gained  superior  power, 
he  waged  against  them  the  most  savage  persecution. 
On  one  occasion  he  ordered  the  massacre  of  a  sur- 
rendered garrison  of  six  hundred  Jewish  soldiers. 
At  another  time  he  put  to  the  most  inhuman  torture 
a  leader  who  had  opposed  his  cause  ;  in  repeated  in- 
stances he  instigated  the  crime  of  assassination.* 
In  early  life  he  had  been  engaged  in  a  peaceful 
caravan  trade,  and  all  his  influence  had  been  cast  in 
favor  of  imiversal  security  as  against  the  predatory 
habits  of  the  heathen  Arabs ;  but  on  coming  to 
*  Dr.  Koelle  :  quoted  in  Church  Missionary  Intelligencer. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    191 

power  he  himself  resorted  to  robbery  to  enrich  his 
exchequer.  Sales  mentions  twenty-seven  of  these 
predatory  expeditions  against  caravans,  in  which 
Mohammed  was  personally  present.* 

The  biographers  of  his  early  life  represent  him  as 
a  man  of  a  natural  kindness  of  disposition,  and  a 
sensitive  temperament  almost  bordering  on  timidity. 
Though  not  particularly  genial,  he  was  fond  of  chil- 
dren, and  had  at  first,  as  his  recorded  utterances  show, 
frequent  impulses  of  pity  and  magnanimity.  But 
he  became  hardened  as  success  crowned  his  career. 
The  temperateness  which  characterized  his  early 
pleadings  and  remonstrances  with  those  who  dif- 
fered from  him,  gave  place  to  bitter  anathemas  ;  and 
there  was  rooted  in  his  personal  character  that  re- 
lentless bigotry  which  has  been  the  key-note  of  the 
most  intolerant  system  known  upon  the  earth. 

A  still  more  marked  change  occurred  in  the  in- 
creasing sensuality  of  Mohammed.  Such  lenient 
apologists  as  E.  Bosworth  Smith  and  Canon  Taylor 
have  applied  their  most  skilful  upholstery  to  the  de- 
fects of  his  scandalous  morals.  Mr.  Smith  has  even 
undertaken  to  palliate  his  appropriation  of  another 
man's  wife,  and  the  blasphemy  of  his  pretended  re- 
velation in  which  he  made  God  justify  his  passion.f 
These  authors  base  their  chief  apologias  upon  com- 

*  Sales  :  Koran  and  Preliminary  Discourse^  Wherry's  edition,  p. 
89.  One  of  the  chief  religious  duties  under  the  Koran  was  the 
giving  of  alms  (Zakat),  and  under  this  euphonious  name  was  in- 
cluded the  tax  by  which  Mohammed  maintained  the  force  that 
enabled  him  to  keep  up  his  predatory  raids  on  the  caravans  of  his 
enemies. 

f  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism^  p.  123. 


192     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

parisons  between  Mohammed  and  the  worse  deprav- 
ity of  the  heathen  Arabs,  or  they  balance  accounts 
with  some  of  his  acknowledged  virtues. 

But  the  case  baffles  all  such  advocacy.  The  real 
question  is,  what  was  the  drift  of  the  prophet's  char- 
acter? What  was  the  influence  of  his  professed 
principles  on  his  own  life?  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  his  moral  trend  was  downward.  If  we  credit 
the  traditions  of  his  own  followers,  he  had  lived  a 
virtuous  life  as  the  husband  of  one  wife,*  and  that  for 
many  years.  But  after  the  death  of  Kadijah  he  en- 
tered upon  a  career  of  polygamy  in  violation  of  his 
own  law.  He  had  fixed  the  limit  for  all  Moslems  at 
four  lawful  wives ;  and  in  spite  of  the  arguments  of  K. 
Bosworth  Smith,  we  must  regard  it  as  a  most  damn- 
ing after-thought  that  made  the  first  and  only  excep- 
tion to  accommodate  his  own  weakness.  By  that 
act  he  placed  himself  beyond  the  help  of  all  sophis- 
try, and  took  his  true  place  in  the  sober  judgment 
of  mankind.  And  by  a  law  which  is  as  unerring  as 
the  law  of  gravitation,  he  became  more  and  more 
sensual  as  age  advanced.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  the  husband  of  eleven  wives.  We  are  not 
favored  with  a  list  of  his  concubines :  f  we  only  know 

*  Dr.  Koelle  gravely  questions  this. 

f  One  of  the  most  wicked  and  disastrous  of  all  Mohammed's 
laws  was  that  which  allowed  the  free  practice  of  capturing  wom- 
en and  girls  in  war,  and  retaining  them  as  lawful  chattels  in  the 
capacity  of  concubines.  It  has  been  in  all  ages  a  base  stimulus 
to  the  raids  of  the  slave-hunter.  Sir  William  Muir  has  justly 
said,  that  so  long  as  a  free  sanction  to  this  great  evil  stands  record- 
ed on  the  pages  of  the  Koran^  Mohammedans  will  ^never  of  their 
own  accord  cease  to  prosecute  the  slave-trade. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    193 

that  his  system  placed  no  limit  upon  the  number.* 
Now,  if  a  prophet  claiming  direct  inspiration  could 
break  his  own  inspired  laws  for  his  personal  accom- 
modation ;  if,  when  found  guilty  of  adultery,  he 
could  compel  his  friend  and  follower  to  divorce  his 
wife  that  he  might  take  her ;  if  upon  esich  violation  of 
purity  and  decency  he  did  not  shrink  from  the  blas- 
phemy of  claiming  a  special  revelation  which  made 
God  the  abettor  of  his  vices,  and  even  represented 
Him  as  reproving  and  threatening  his  wives  for  their 
just  complaints — if  all  this  does  not  stamp  a  man  as 
a  reckless  impostor,  what  further  turpitude  is  re- 
quired ? 

At  the  same  time  it  is  evident  that  constant  dis- 
crimination is  demanded  in  judging  of  the  character 
of  Mohammed.  It  is  not  necessary  to  assume  that 
he  was  wholly  depraved  at  first,  or  to  deny  that  for 
a  time  he  was  the  good  husband  that  he  is  represent- 
ed to  have  been,,  or  that  he  was  a  sincere  and  enthu- 
siastic reformer,  or  even  that  he  may  have  interpret- 
ed some  of  his  early  hallucinations  as  mysterious 
messages  from  heaven.  At  various  times  in  his  life 
he  doubtless  displayed  noble  sentiments  and  per- 
formed generous  acts.  But  when  we  find  him  dictat- 
ing divine  communications  with  deliberate  purpose 
for  the  most  villainous  objects,  when  we  find  the 
messages  of  Gabriel  timed  and  graded  to  suit  the 
exigencies  of  his  growing  ambition,  or  the  demands 
of  his  worst  passions,  we  are  forced  to  a  prepon- 

*  According  to  Dr.  Koelle,  the  number  of  women  and  children 
who  fell  to  the  prophet's  share  of  captives  at  the  time  of  his  great 
slaughter  of  the  surrendered  Jewish  soldiers,  was  two  hundred. 
13 


194     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

derating  condemnation.  The  Mohammed  of  the 
later  years  is  a  remorseless  tyrant  when  occasion  re- 
quires, and  at  all  times  the  slave  of  unbridled  lust. 
Kefined  and  cultivated  Mohammedan  ladies — I  speak 
from  testimony  that  is  very  direct — do  not  hesitate 
to  condemn  the  degrading  morals  of  their  prophet, 
and  to  contrast  him  with  the  spotless  purity  of  Jesus ; 
"but  then,"  they  add, "  God  used  him  for  a  great  pur- 
pose, and  gave  him  the  most  exalted  honor  among 
men."  Alas!  it  is  the  old  argument  so  often  em- 
ployed in  many  lands.  Success,  great  intellect,  grand 
achievements  gild  all  moral  deformity,  and  win  the 
connivance  of  dazzled  minds.  In  this  case,  how- 
ever, it  is  not  a  hero  or  a  statesman,  but  an  alleged 
prophet  of  God,  that  is  on  trial. 

It  is  a  question  difficult  to  decide,  how  far  Mo- 
hammed made  Mohammedanism,  and  how  far  the 
system  moulded  him.  The  action  of  cause  and  effect 
was  mutual,  and  under  this  interaction  both  the 
character  and  the  system  were  slow  growths.  The 
Koran  was  composed  in  detached  fragments  suited 
to  different  stages  of  development,  different  degrees 
and  kinds  of  success,  different  demands  of  personal 
impulse  or  changes  of  conduct.  The  Suras,  without 
any  claim  to  logical  connection,  were  written  down 
by  an  amanuensis  on  bits  of  parchment,  or  pieces  of 
wood  or  leather,  and  even  on  the  shoulder-bones  of 
sheep.  And  they  were  each  the  expression  of  Mo- 
hammed's particular  mood  at  the  time,  and  each  en- 
tered in  some  degree  into  his  character  from  that 
time  forth.  The  man  and  the  book  grew  together, 
and  the  system,  through  all  its  history,  fairly  repre- 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PBESBNT    195 

sents  the  example  of  the  man  and  the  teaching  of  the 
book. 

Let  us  next  consider  the  historic  character  and 
influence  of  the  system  of  Islam.  In  forming  just 
conclusions  as  to  the  real  influence  of  Mohammedan- 
ism, a  judicial  fairness  is  necessary.  In  the  first  place, 
we  must  guard  against  the  hasty  and  sweeping  judg- 
ments which  are  too  often  indulged  in  by  zealous 
Christians ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  certainly 
challenge  the  exaggerated  statements  of  enthusiastic 
apologists.  It  is  erroneous  to  assert  that  Islam  has 
never  encouraged  education,  that  it  has  invariably 
been  adverse  to  all  progress,  that  it  knows  nothing 
but  the  Koran,  or  that  Omar,  in  ordering  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Alexandrian  library,  is  the  only  historical 
exponent  of  the  system.  Such  statements  are  full  of 
partial  truths,  but  they  are  also  mingled  with  patent 
errors. 

The  Arab  races  in  their  original  home  were  natur- 
ally inclined  to  the  encouragement  of  letters,  partic- 
ularly of  poetry,  and  Mohammed  himself,  though 
he  had  never  been  taught  even  to  read,  much  less 
to  write,  took  special  pains  to  encourage  learning. 
"  Teach  your  children  poetry,"  he  said ;  "  it  opens 
the  mind,  lends  grace  to  wisdom,  and  makes  the  he- 
roic virtues  hereditary."  *  According  to  Sprenger,  he 
gave  liberty  to  every  prisoner  who  taught  twelve 
boys  of  Mecca  to  write.  The  Abbasside  princes 
of  a  later  day  offered  most  generous  prizes  for  su- 
perior excellence  in  poetry,  and  Bagdad,  Damascus, 
Alexandria,  Bassora,  and  Samarcand  were  noted  for 
*  Mohammed,  BuddJia,  and  Chi'istf  p.  112, 


196     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  0ERI8TIANITT 

their  universities."^  Cordova  and  Seville  were  able  to 
lend  their  light  to  the  infant  university  of  Oxford. 
The  fine  arts  of  sculpture  and  painting  were  con- 
demned by  the  early  caliphs,  doubtless  on  account  of 
the  idolatrous  tendencies  which  they  were  supposed 
to  foster;  but  medicine,  philosophy,  mathematics, 
chemistry,  and  astronomy  were  especially  developed, 
and  that  at  a  time  when  the  nations  of  Europe  were 
mostly  in  darkness. f  Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
on  the  whole  the  influence  of  Islam  has  been  hostile 
to  learning  and  to  civilization. :[  The  world  will  never 
forget  that  by  the  burning  of  the  great  library  of 
Alexandria  the  rich  legacy  which  the  old  world  had 

*  Mohammed,  Buddha,  and  Christ,  f  Ibid,  p.  112. 

X  Says  Sir  William  Muir  :  *'  Three  radical  evils  flow  from  the 
faith,  in  all  ages  and  in  every  country,  and  must  continue  to  flow 
»o  long  as  the  Koran  is  the  standard  of  belief.  Firsts  polygamy, 
divorce,  and  slavery  are  maintained  and  perpetuated,  striking  at 
the  root  of  public  morals,  poisoning  domestic  life,  and  disorganiz- 
ing society.  Second,  freedom  of  thought  and  private  judgment 
in  religion  is  crushed  and  annihilated.  The  sword  still  is,  and 
must  remain,  the  inevitable  penalty  for  the  denial  of  Islam. 
Toleration  is  unknown.  Third,  a  barrier  has  been  interposed 
against  the  reception  of  Christianity.  They  labor  under  a  miser- 
able delusion  who  suppose  that  Mohammedanism  paves  the  way 
for  a  purer  faith.  No  system  could  have  been  devised  with  more 
consummate  skill  for  shutting  out  the  nations  over  which  it  has 
sway  from  the  light  of  truth.  Idolatrous  Arabia  (judging  from 
the  analogy  of  other  nations)  might  have  been  aroused  to  spiritual 
life  and  to  the  adoption  of  the  faith  of  Jesus.  Mohammedan  Ara- 
bia is  to  the  human  eye  sealed  against  the  benign  influences  of  the 
Gospel.  .  .  .  The  sword  of  Mohammed  and  the  Koran  are  the 
most  stubborn  enemies  of  civilization,  liberty,  and  truth  which 
the  world  has  yet  known."— C%wrcA  Missionary  IntdligeTicer,  "So- 
vember,  1885. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    197 

bequeathed  to  the  new  was  destroyed.  By  its  occu- 
pation of  Egypt  and  Constantinople,  and  thus  cutting 
off  the  most  important  channels  of  communication, 
the  Mohammedan  power  became  largely  responsible 
for  the  long  eclipse  of  Europe  during  the  Middle 
Ages. 

Moreover,  when  zealous  advocates  of  the  system 
contrast  the  barbarism  of  Eichard  Coeur  de  Lion 
with  the  culture  and  humanity  of  Saladin,  they  seem 
to  forget  that  the  race  of  Eichard  had  but  just 
emerged  from  the  savagery  of  the  Northmen,  while 
Saladin  and  his  race  had  not  only  inherited  the  high 
moral  culture  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  but  had 
virtually  monopolized  it.  It  was  chiefly  by  the  wars 
of  the  Crusaders  that  Western  Europe  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  civilization  of  the  Orient. 

Instead  of  ignoring  the  advantages  which  the  East 
had  over  the  West  at  that  period,  it  would  be  more 
just  to  inquire  what  comparative  improvements  of 
their  respective  opportunities  have  been  made  by 
Western  Christianity  and  Eastern  Mohammedanism 
since  that  time.  It  would  be  an  interesting  task,  for 
example,  to  start  with  the  period  of  Saladin  and 
Coeur  de  Lion,  and  impartially  trace  on  the  one  hand 
the  influence  of  Christianity  as  it  moulded  the  savage 
conquerors  of  the  Eoman  Empire,  and  from  such 
rude  materials  built  up  the  great  Christian  nations 
of  the  nineteenth  century ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  fol- 
low the  banner  of  the  Crescent  through  all  the  lands 
where  it  has  borne  sway :  Persia,  Arabia,  Northern 
India,  Egypt,  the  Barbary  States,  East  Africa,  and 
the  Soudan,  and  then  draw  an  unbiased  conclusion 


198     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

as  to  which  system,  as  a  system,  has  done  more  to 
spread  general  enlightenment,  foster  the  sentiments 
of  kindness  and  philanthropy,  promote  human  lib- 
erty, advance  civilization,  increase  and  elevate  popu- 
lations, promote  the  purity  and  happiness  of  the 
family  and  the  home,  and  raise  the  standards  of 
ethics  and  true  religion  among  mankind.^ 

One  of  the  brilliant  dynasties  of  Mohammedan 
history  was  that  of  the  Moors  of  Spain.  We  can 
never  cease  to  admire  their  encouragement  of  arts 
and  their  beautiful  architecture,  but  is  it  quite  cer- 
tain that  all  this  was  a  direct  fruit  of  Islam  ?  The 
suggestion  that  it  may  have  been .  partly  due  to  con- 
tact with  the  Gothic  elements  which  the  Moors  van- 

*  Osborne,  in  his  Islam  under  the  Arabs,  and  Marcus  Dodds,  in 
Moharamed,  Buddha^  and  Christ,  have  emphasized  the  fact  that 
Islam,  however  favorably  it  might  compare  with  the  Arabian  hea- 
thenism which  it  overthrew,  was  wholly  out  of  place  in  forcing 
its  semi-barbarous  cultus  upon  civilizations  which  were  far  above 
it.  It  might  be  an  advance  upon  the  rudeness  and  cruelty  of  the 
Koreish,  but  the  misfortune  was  that  it  stamped  its  stereotyped 
and  unchanging  principles  and  customs  upon  nations  which  were 
in  advance  of  it  even  then,  and  which,  but  for  its  deadening  in- 
fluence, might  have  made  far  greater  progress  in  the  centuries 
which  followed. 

Its  bigoted  founder  gave  the  Koran  as  the  sufficient  guide  for 
all  time.  It  arrested  the  world's  progress  as  far  as  its  power  ex- 
tended. Very  different  was  the  spirit  of  Judaism.  ' '  It  distinctly 
disclaimed  both  finality  and  completeness.  Every  part  of  the 
Mosaic  religion  had  a  forward  look,  and  was  designed  to  leave 
the  mind  in  an  attitude  of  expectation," 

Mohammedanism,  in  claiming  to  be  the  one  religion  for  all 
men  and  all  time,  is  convicted  of  absurdity  and  imposture  by  its 
failures ;  by  the  retrograde  which  markjg  its  whole  history  in 
Western  Asia,  As  a  universal  religion  it  has  been  tried  and 
found  wanting. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    199 

quished,  finds  support  in  the  fact  that  nothing  of 
the  kind  appeared  on  the  opposite  coast  of  Africa. 
And  while  the  Mohammedan  Empire  in  India  has 
left  the  most  exquisite  architectural  structures  in  the 
world,  it  is  well  known  that  they  were  the  work  of 
European  architects. 

But  in  considering  the  influence  which  Islam  has 
exerted  on  the  whole,  lack  of  time  compels  me  to 
limit  our  survey  to  Africa,  except  as  other  lands  may 
be  referred  to  incidentally.  ^    That  the  first  African 

*  It  has  been  claimed  that  the  spread  of  Mohammedanism  in 
India  is  far  more  rapid  than  that  of  Christianity.  If  this  were 
true  in  point  of  fact,  it  would  be  significant ;  for  India  under 
British  rule  furnishes  a  fair  field  for  such  a  contest.  But  it  so 
happens  that  there,  where  Islam  holds  no  sword  of  conquest,  and 
no  arbitrary  power  to  compel  the  faith  of  men,  its  growth  is  very 
slow,  it  only  keeps  pace  with  the  general  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion. It  cannot  compare  with  the  advancement  of  Christianity. 
I  subjoin  an  extract  from  Sir  W.  Hunter's  paper  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  for  July,  1888  : 

' '  The  official  census,  notwithstanding  its  obscurities  of  classifi- 
cation and  the  disturbing  effects  of  the  famine  of  1877,  attests  the 
rapid  increase  of  the  Christian  population.  So  far  as  these  dis- 
turbing influences  allow  of  an  inference  for  all  British  India,  the 
normal  rate  of  increase  among  the  general  population  was  about 
8  per  cent,  from  1872  to  1881,  while  the  actual  rate  of  the  Chris- 
tian population  was  over  30  per  cent.  But,  taking  the  lieutenant- 
governorship  of  Bengal  as  the  greatest  province  outside  the  famine 
area  of  1877,  and  for  whose  population,  amounting  to  one-third 
of  the  whole  of  British  India,  really  comparable  statistics  exist, 
the  census  results  are  clear.  The  general  population  increased  in 
the  nine  years  preceding  1881  at  the  rate  of  10.89  per  cent.,  the 
Mohammedans  at  the  rate  of  10.96  per  cent.,  the  Hindus  at  some 
undetermined  rate  below  13.64  per  cent.,  Christians  of  all  races 
at  the  rate  of  40. 71  per  cent. ,  and  the  native  Christiana  at  the 
rate  of  64.07  per  cent." 


200     ORIENTAL  RELIOIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

conquests,  extending  from  Egypt  to  Morocco,  were 
simple  warlike  invasions  in  which  the  sword  was  the 
only  instrument  of  propagandism,  no  one  will  deny. 
But  it  is  contended  that  in  later  centuries  a  great 
work  has  been  accomplished  in  Western  Soudan,  and 
is  still  being  accomplished,  by  missionary  effort  and 
the  general  advance  of  a  wholesome  civilization. 

Any  fair  estimate  of  Mohammedan  influence  must 
take  account  of  the  elements  which  it  found  in 
Northern  Africa  at  the  time  of  its  conquests.  The 
states  which  border  on  the  Mediterranean  had  once 
been  powerful  and  comparatively  enlightened.  They 
had  been  populous  and  prosperous.  The  Phoenician 
colony  in  Carthage  had  grown  to  be  no  mean  rival 
of  Eome's  military  power.  Egypt  had  been  a  great 
centre  of  learning,  not  only  in  the  most  ancient 
times,  but  especially  after  the  building  of  Alexandria. 
More  western  lands,  like  Numidia  and  Mauritania, 
had  been  peopled  by  noble  races. 

After  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  Alexandria 
became  the  bright  focus  into  which  the  religions  and 
philosophies  of  the  world  poured  their  concentrated 
light.  Some  of  the  greatest  of  the  Christian  fathers, 
like  Augustine,  TertuUian,  and  Cyprian,  were  Afri- 
cans. The  foundations  of  Latin  Christianity  were 
laid  by  these  men.  The  Bishopric  of  Hippo  was  a 
model  for  all  time  in  deep  and  intelligent  devotion. 
The  grace  and  strength,  the  sublime  and  all-conquer- 
ing faith  of  Monica,  and  others  like  her,  furnished  a 
pattern  for  all  Christian  womanhood  and  motherhood. 

I  do  not  forget  that  before  the'  time  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan invasion  the  Vandals  had  done  their  work 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    201 

of  devastation,  or  that  the  African  Church  had  been 
woefully  weakened  and  rent  by  wild  heresies  and 
schisms,  or  that  the  defection  of  the  Monophysite  or 
Coptic  Church  of  Egypt  was  one  of  the  influences 
which  facilitated  the  Mohammedan  success.  But 
making  due  allowance  for  all  this,  vandalism  and 
schism  could  not  have  destroyed  so  soon  the  an- 
cient civilization  or  sapped  the  strength  of  the  North 
African  races.  The  process  which  has  permanently 
reduced  so  many  once  populous  cities  and  villages  to 
deserts,  and  left  large  portions  of  the  Barbary  States 
with  only  the  moldering  ruins  of  their  former  great- 
ness, has  been  a  gradual  one.  For  centuries  after 
the  Arab  conquest  those  states  were  virtually  shut 
off  from  communication  with  Europe,  and  for  at 
least  three  centuries  more,  say  from  1500  down  to 
the  generation  which  immediately  preceded  our  own, 
they  were  known  chiefly  by  the  piracies  which  they 
carried  on  against  the  commerce  of  all  maritime  na-' 
tions.  Even  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
was  compelled  to  pay  a  million  of  dollars  for  the 
ransom  of  captured  American  seamen,  and  it  paid  it 
not  to  private  corsairs,  but  to  the  Mohammedan 
governments  by  which  those  piracies  were  subsi-' 
dized,  as  a  means  of  supplying  the  public  exchequer. 
These  large  amounts  were  recovered  only  when  our 
navy,  in  co-operation  with  that  of  England,  extirpated 
the  Kiff  piracies  by  bombarding  the  Moslem  ports. 
The  vaunted  civilizations  of  the  North  African  states 
would  have  been  supported  by  wholesale  marauding 
to  this  day,  had  not  their  piratical  fleets  been  thus 
summarily  swept  from  the  seas  by  other  powers. 


202     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

If  Egypt  has  shown  a  higher  degree  of  advance- 
ment it  has  been  due  to  her  peculiar  geographical 
position,  to  the  inexhaustible  fertility  of  the  Delta, 
and,  most  of  all,  to  the  infusion  of  foreign  life  and 
energy  into  the  management  of  her  affairs.  Ambi- 
tious adventurers,  like  the  Albanian  Mehamet  Ali, 
have  risen  to  power  and  have  made  Egypt  what  she 
is,  or  rather  what  she  was  before  the  more  recent  in- 
tervention of  the  European  powers.  Even  Canon 
Taylor  admits  that  for  centuries  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  import  more  vigorous  foreign  blood  for  the 
administration  of  Egyptian  affairs.* 

It  will  be  admitted  that  Mohammedan  conquests 
have  been  made  in  mediaeval  times,  and  down  to  our 
own  age,  in  Central  Africa,  and  that  along  the  south- 
em  borders  of  Sahara  a  cordon  of  more  or  less  pros- 
perous states  has  been  established;  also,  that  the 
civilization  of  those  states  contrasts  favorably  with 
the  savagery  of  the  cannibal  tribes  with  which  they 
iiave  come  in  contact.  Probably  the  best — that  is 
to  say,  the  least  objectionable — exemplifications  of 
Islam  now  to  be  found  in  the  world  are  seen  in  some 
of  the  older  states  of  Western  Soudan.  The  Man- 
dingo  of  the  central  uplands  furnished  a  better  ma- 
terial than  the  "  unspeakable  Turk,"  and  it  would 
not  be  quite  fair  to  ascribe  all  his  present  virtues  to 
the  Moslem  rule. 

But  how  have  these  conquests  in  Central  Africa 

been  made  ?     The  contention  of  the  apologists  for 

Islam  is  that  recently,  at  least,  and  probably  more  or 

less  in  the  paist,  a  quiet  missionary  work  has  greatly 

*  Leaves  from  an  Egyptian  Note-booh 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    203 

extended  monotheism,  temperance,  education,  and 
general  comfort,  and  that  it  has  done  more  than  all 
other  influences  for  the  permanent  extinction  of  the 
slave  trade !  Dr.  E.  W.  Blyden,  in  answer  to  the 
charge  that  Mohammedan  Arabs  are  now,  and  long 
have  been,  chiefly  responsible  for  the  horrors  of  that 
trade,  and  that  even  when  Americans  bought  slaves 
for  their  plantations,  Moslem  raiders  in  the  interior 
instigated  the  tribal  quarrels  which  supplied  the 
markets  on  the  coast,  contends  that  the  Moslem 
conquests  do  most  effectually  destroy  the  trade,  since 
tribes  which  have  become  Moslem  can  no  longer  be 
enslaved  by  Moslems.*  It  is  a  curious  argument, 
especially  as  it  seems  to  ignore  the  fact  that  at  the 
present  time  both  the  supply  and  the  demand  de- 
pend on  Mohammedan  influence. 

As  to  the  means  by  which  the  Soudanese  States 
are  now  extending  their  power  we  may  content  our- 
selves with  a  mere  reference  to  the  operations  of  the 
late  "El  Mahdi"  in  the  East  and  the  notorious  Sam- 
adu  in  the  West.  Their  methods  may  be  accepted 
as  illustrations  of  a  kind  of  tactics  which  have  been 
employed  for  ages.  The  career  of  El  Mahdi  is  al- 
ready well  known.  Samadu  was  originally  a  pris- 
oner, captured  while  yet  a  boy  in  one  of  the  tribal 
wars  near  the  headwaters  of  the  Niger.  Partly  by 
intrigue  and  partly  by  the  aid  of  his  religious  fana- 
ticism he  at  length  became  sufficiently  powerful  to 
enslave  his  master.  Soon  afterward  he  proclaimed 
his  divine  mission,  and  declared  a  Jehad  or  holy  war 
against  all  infidels.  Thousands  flocked  to  his  ban- 
*  Christianity^  Islam,  and  the  Negro  Race,  p.  241, 


204     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ner,  influenced  largely  by  the  hope  of  booty ;  and  ere 
long,  to  quote  the  language  of  a  lay  correspondent  of 
the  London  Standard,  written  in  Sierra  Leone  Sep- 
tember 18,  1888,  "  he  became  the  scourge  of  all  the 
peaceable  states  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Upper 
Niger."  Since  1882  he  has  attempted  to  dispute  the 
territorial  claims  of  the  French  on  the  upper,  and 
of  the  English  on  the  lower  Niger,  though  without 
success.  But  he  has  seemed  to  avenge  his  disap- 
pointment the  more  terribly  on  the  native  tribes. 

The  letter  published  in  the  Standard  gives  an 
account  of  an  official  commission  sent  by  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Sierra  Leone  to  the  headquarters  of  Sam- 
adu  in  1888,  and  in  describing  the  track  of  this 
Western  Mahdi  in  his  approaches  to  the  French  ter- 
ritories it  says :  "  The  messengers  report  that  every 
town  and  village  through  which  they  passed  was  in 
ruins,  and  that  the  road,  from  the  borders  of  Suli- 
mania  to  Herimakono,  was  lined  with  human  skele- 
tons, the  remains  of  unfortunates  who  had  been  slain 
by  Samadu's  fanatical  soldiery,  or  had  perished  from 
starvation  through  the  devastation  of  the  surround- 
ing country.  Some  of  these  poor  wretches,  to  judge 
from  the  horrible  contortions  of  the  skeletons,  had 
been  attacked  by  vultures  and  beasts  of  prey  while 
yet  alive,  and  when  too  near  their  lingering  death  to 
have  sufficient  strength  to  beat  them  off.  Around 
the  ruined  towns  were  hundreds  of  doubled-up  skele- 
tons, the  remains  of  prisoners  who,  bound  hand  and 
foot,  had  been  forced  upon  their  knees,  and  their 
heads  struck  off.  Keba,  the  heroic  Bambara  king, 
is  still  resisting  bravely,  but  he  has  only  one  strong- 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    205 

hold  (Siaso)  left,  and  the  end  cannot  now  be  far 
off." 

Samadu's  career  in  this  direction  having  been  ar^''. 
rested,  he  next  turned  his  attention  toward  the  tribes 
under  English  protection  on  the  southeast,  "  where, 
unfortunately,  there  was  no  power  to  take  up  the 
cause  of  humanity  and  arrest  his  progress.  Before 
long  he  entirely  overran  and  subjected  Kouranko, 
Limbah,  Sulimania,  Kono,  and  Kissi.  The  most 
horrible  atrocities  were  committed;  peaceable  agri- 
culturists were  slaughted  in  thousands,  and  their 
women  and  children  carried  off  into  slavery.  Falaba, 
the  celebrated  capital  of  Sulimania,  and  the  great 
emporium  for  trade  between  Sierra  Leone  and  the 
Niger,  was  captured  and  destroyed ;  and  all  the  in- 
habitants of  that  district,  whom  every  traveller,  from 
Winwood  Keade  down  to  Dr.  Blyden,  has  mentioned 
with  praise  for  their  industry  and  docility,  have  been 
exterminated  or  carried  off.  Sulimania,  which  was 
the  garden  of  West  Africa,  has  now  become  a  howl- 
ing wilderness." 

And  the  writer  adds  :  "  The  people  of  the  States 
to  the  south  of  Futa  Djallon  are  pagans,  and  Samadu 
makes  their  religion  a  pretext  for  his  outrages.  He 
is  desirous,  he  says,  of  converting  them  to  the  *  True 
Faith,'  and  his  modes  of  persuasion  are  murder 
and  slavery.  What  could  be  more  horrible  than  the 
story  just  brought  down  by  the  messengers  who 
were  with  Major  Festing?  Miles  of  road  strewn 
with  human  bones ;  blackened  ruins  where  were 
peaceful  hamlets ;  desolation  and  emptiness  where 
were  smiling  plantations.     What  has  become  of  the 


206     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

tens  of  thousands  of  peaceful  agriculturists,  their 
wives  and  their  innocent  children  ?  Gone ;  converted, 
after  Samadu's  manner,  to  the  *True  Faith.'  And 
thus  the  conversion  of  West  Africa  to  Islamism  goes 
merrily  on,  while  dilettante  scholars  at  home  com- 
placently discuss  the  question  as  to  whether  that 
faith  or  Christianity  is  the  more  suitable  for  the 
Negro;  and  the  British  people,  dead  to  their  gen- 
erous instincts  of  old,  make  no  demand  that  such 
deeds  of  cruelty  and  horror  shall  be  axrested  with  a 
strong  hand."  * 

Similar  accounts  of  the  Mricajo.  propagandism  of 
Islam  might  be  given  in  the  very  words  of  numerous 
travellers  and  explorers,  but  one  or  two  witnesses 
only  shall  be  summoned  to  speak  of  the  Moham- 
medan dominion  and  civilization  in  East  Africa. 
Professor  Drummond,  in  giving  his  impressions  of 
Zanzibar,  says :  "  Oriental  in  its  appearance,  Mo- 
hammedan in  its  religion,  Arabian  in  its  morals,  a 
cesspool  of  wickedness,  it  is  a  fit  capital  to  the  Dark 
Oontinent."  And  it  is  the  great  emporium — not  an 
obscure  settlement,  but  the  consummate  flower  of 
East  African  civilization  and  boasting  in  the  late 
Sultan  Bargash,  an  unusually  enlightened  Moslem 
ruler.  Of  the  interior  and  the  ivory-slave  trade  pur- 
sued under  the  auspices  of  Arab  dominion  the  same 
author  says :  "  Arab  encampments  for  carrying  on  a 
wholesale  trade  in  this  terrible  commodity  are  now 
established  all  over  the  heart  of  Africa.  They  are 
usually  connected  with  wealthy  Arab  traders  at  Zan- 

*  For  the  full  text  of  the  letter  to  the  Standard^  see  Church 
Missionary  InteUigencef  December,  1888. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    207 

zibar  and  other  places  on  the  coast,  and  communica- 
tion is  kept  up  by  caravans,  which  pass  at  long  in- 
tervals from  one  to  the  other.  Being  always  large 
and  well-supplied  with  the  material  of  war,  these 
caravans  have  at  their  mercy  the  feeble  and  divided 
native  tribes  through  which  they  pass,  and  their 
trail  across  the  continent  is  darkened  with  every 
aggravation  of  tyranny  and  crime.  They  come  upon 
the  scene  suddenly ;  they  stay  only  long  enough  to 
secure  their  end,  and  disappear  only  to  return  when 
a  new  crop  has  arisen  which  is  worth  the  reaping. 
Sometimes  these  Arab  traders  will  actually  settle  for 
a  year  or  two  in  the  heart  of  some  quiet  community 
in  the  remote  interior.  They  pretend  perfect  friend- 
ship ;  they  molest  no  one ;  they  barter  honestly. 
They  plant  the  seeds  of  their  favorite  vegetables  and 
fruits — the  Arab  always  carries  seeds  with  him — as 
if  they  meant  to  stay  forever.  Meantime  they  buy 
ivory,  tusk  after  tusk,  until  great  piles  of  it  are  buried 
beneath  their  huts,  and  all  their  barter  goods  are 
gone.  Then  one  day  suddenly  the  inevitable  quarrel 
is  picked.  And  then  follows  a  wholesale  massacre. 
Enough  only  are  spared  from  the  slaughter  to  carry 
the  ivory  to  the  coast ;  the  grass  huts  of  the  village 
are  set  on  fire ;  the  Arabs  strike  camp ;  and  the  slave 
march,  worse  than  death,  begins.  The  last  act  in 
the  drama,  the  slave  march,  is  the  aspect  of  slavery 
which  in  the  past  has  chiefly  aroused  the  passions 
and  the  sympathy  of  the  outside  world,  but  the 
greater  evil  is  the  demoralization  and  disintegration 
of  communities  by  which  it  is  necessarily  preceded. 
It  is  essential  to  the  traffic  that  the  region  drained 


208     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

by  the  slaver  should  be  kept  in  perpetual  political 
ferment ;  that,  in  order  to  prevent  combination,  chief 
should  be  pitted  against  chief,  and  that  the  moment 
any  tribe  threatens  to  assume  a  dominating  strength 
it  should  either  be  broken  up  by  the  instigation  of 
rebellion  among  its  dependencies  or  made  a  tool  of 
at  their  expense.  The  inter-relation  of  tribes  is  so 
intricate  that  it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  effect 
of  disturbing  the  equilibrium  at  even  a  single  centre. 
But,  like  a  river,  a  slave  caravan  has  to  be  fed  by 
innumerable  tributaries  all  along  its  course,  at  first 
in  order  to  gather  a  sufficient  volume  of  human 
bodies  for  the  start,  and  afterward  to  replace  the 
frightful  loss  by  desertion,  disablement,  and  death." 

Next  to  Livingstone,  whose  last  pathetic  appeal  to 
the  civilized  world  to  "  heal  the  open  sore  of  Africa  " 
stands  engraved  in  marble  in  Westminster  Abbey,  no 
better  witness  can  be  summoned  in  regard  to  the 
slave  trade  and  the  influence  of  Islam  generally  in 
Eastern  and  Central  Africa  than  Henry  M.  Stanley. 
From  the  time  when  he  encountered  the  Mohamme- 
dan propagandists  at  the  Court  of  Uganda  he  has 
seen  how  intimately  and  vitally  the  faith  and  the 
traffic  are  everywhere  united.  I  give  but  a  single 
passage  from  his  "  Congo  Free  State,"  page  144. 

"  We  discovered  that  this  horde  of  banditti — for 
in  reality  and  without  disguise  they  were  nothing 
else — was  under  the  leadership  of  Sjsveral  chiefs,  but 
principally  under  Karema  and  Kibunga.  They  had 
started  sixteen  months  previously  from  Wane-Ki- 
rundu,  about  thirty  miles  below  Vinya  Njara.  For 
eleven  months  the  band  had  been  raiding  success- 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    209 

fully  between  the  Congo  and  the  Lubiranzi,  on  the 
left  bank.  They  had  then  undertaken  to  perform 
the  same  cruel  work  between  the  Biyerre  and  Wane- 
Kirundu.  On  looking  at  my  map  I  find  that  such  a 
territory  within  the  area  described  would  cover  su- 
perficially 16,200  square  geographical  miles  on  the 
left  bank,  and  10,500  miles  on  the  right,  all  of 
which  in  statute  mileage  would  be  equal  to  34,700 
square  miles,  just  2,000  square  miles  greater  than 
the  island  of  Ireland,  inhabited  by  about  1,000,000 
people. 

"  The  band  when  it  set  out  from  Kirundu  num- 
bered 300  fighting  men,  armed  with  flint-locks, 
double-barrelled  percussion  guns,  and  a  few  breech- 
loaders; their  followers,  or  domestic  slaves  and 
women,  doubled  this  force.  .  .  .  Within  the  en- 
closure was  a  series  of  low  sheds  extending  many 
lines  deep  from  the  immediate  edge  of  the  clay  bank 
inland,  100  yards ;  in  length  the  camp  was  about  300 
yards.  At  the  landing-place  below  were  54  long  ca- 
noes, varying  in  carrying  capacity.  Each  might  con- 
vey from  10  to  100  people.  .  .  .  The  first  gen- 
eral impressions  are  that  the  camp  is  much  too 
densely  peopled  for  comfort.  There  are  rows  upon 
rows  of  dark  nakedness,  relieved  here  and  there  by 
the  white  dresses  of  the  captors.  There  are  lines  or 
groups  of  naked  forms — upright,  standing,  or  moving 
about  listlessly;  naked  bodies  are  stretched  under 
the  sheds  in  all  positions ;  naked  legs  innumerable 
are  seen  in  the  perspective  of  prostrate  sleepers; 
there  are  countless  naked  children — many  mere  in- 
fants— forms  of  boyhood  and  girlhood,  and  occasion- 
14 


210    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

ally  a  drove  of  absolutely  naked  old  women  bending 
under  a  basket  of  fuel,  or  cassava  tubers,  or  bananas, 
who  are  driven  through  the  moving  groups  by  two 
or  three  musketeers.  On  paying  more  attention  to 
details,  I  observe  that  mostly  all  are  fettered ;  youths 
with  iron  rings  around  their  necks,  through  which  a 
chain,  like  one  of  our  boat  anchor-chains,  is  rove,  se- 
curing the  captives  by  twenties.  The  children  over 
ten  are  secured  by  these  copper  rings,  each  ringed 
leg  brought  together  by  the  central  ring." 

By  a  careful  examination  of  statistics  Mr.  Stanley 
estimates  that  counting  the  men  killed  in  the  raids 
and  those  who  perish  on  the  march  or  are  slain  be- 
cause supposed  to  be  worthless,  every  5,000  slaves 
actually  sold  cost  over  30,000  lives. 

But  there  are  Arabs  and  Arabs  we  are  told.  The 
slave-dealers  of  East  Africa  and  the  barbarous  chief- 
tains who  push  their  bloody  conquests  in  Western 
Soudan  are  bad  enough,  it  is  admitted,  but  they  are 
"  exceptions."  Yet  we  insist  that  they  illustrate  the 
very  spirit  of  Mohammed  himself,  who  authorized 
the  taking  of  prisoners  of  war  as  slaves.  Their  plea 
is  that  they  save  the  souls  of  those  they  capture ; 
many  of  these  traders  are  Mollahs — Pharisees  of  the 
Pharisees.  Canon  Taylor,  Dr.  Blyden,  and  others 
have  given  us  glowing  accounts  of  "  Arab  mission- 
aries going  about  without  purse  or  scrip,  and  dis« 
seminating  their  religion  by  quietly  teaching  the 
Koran;"  but  the  venerable  Bishop  Crowther,  who 
has  spent  his  whole  life  in  that  part  of  Africa  where 
these  conquests  are  supposed  to  be  made,  declares 
that  the  real  vocation  of  the  quiet  apostles  of  the 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    211 

Koran  is  that  of  fetish  peddlers.*  If  it  be  objected 
that  this  is  the  biased  testimony  of  a  Christian  mis- 
sionary, it  may  be  backed  by  the  explorer  Lander, 
who,  in  speaking  of  this  same  class  of  men,  says : 
"  These  Mollahs  procure  an  easy  subsistence  by 
making  fetishes  or  writing  charms  on  bits  of  wood 
which  are  washed  off  carefully  into  a  basin  of  water, 
and  drank  with  avidity  by  the  credulous  multitude." 
And  he  adds  :  "  Those  who  profess  the  Mohamme- 
dan faith  among  the  negroes  are  as  ignorant  and 
superstitious  as  their  idolatrous  brethren ;  nor  does 
it  appear  that  their  having  adopted  a  new  creed  has 
either  improved  their  manners  or  bettered  their  con- 
dition in  life."  Dr.  Schweinfurth  also  describes  the 
Mohammedan  missionaries  whom  he  found  at  Khar- 
toum as  "  polluted  with  every  abominable  vice  which 
the  imagination  of  man  can  conceive  of."  In  an- 
swer to  various  statements  which  had  been  published 
in  regard  to  the  rapid  missionary  progress  made 
by  Mohammedans  in  West  Central  Africa,  Bishop 
Crowther  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  at  the  beginning  of  1888,  giving  the  results 
of  his  own  prolonged  observation.  He  describes  the 
methods  used  as : 

1.  War  upon  the  heathen  tribes.  "  If  the  Chief  of 
a  heathen  tribe  accepts  the  Koran  his  people  are  at 
once  counted  as  converts  and  he  is  received  into 
favor,  and  is  thus  prepared  to  become  an  instru- 
ment in  conquering  other  tribes.  But  on  the  refusal 
to  accept  the  Koran  war  is  declared,  the  destruction 
of  their  country  is  the  consequence,  and  horrible 
*  Church  Missionary  Intelligencer,  1887,  p.  653. 


212    ORIENTAL   RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

bloodshed.  The  aged,  male  and  female,  are  mas- 
sacred, while  the  salable  are  led  away  as  slaves.  One 
half  of  the  slaves  are  reserved  by  the  chief,  the  other 
half  is  divided  among  the  soldiers  to  encourage  them 
to  future  raids." 

2.  .Another  cause  of  large  increase  is  polygamy. 
"For  although  but  four  lawful  wives  are  allowed, 
there  is  unlimited  license  for  concubinage." 

3.  The  sale  of  charms  is  so  conducted  as  to  prove 
not  only  a  means  of  profit  but  a  shrewd  propaganda. 
"When  childless  women  are  furnished  with  these, 
they  are  pledged,  if  successful,  to  dedicate  their  chil- 
dren to  Islam." 

And  Bishop  Crowther  verifies  the  statement  made 
by  others  in  reference  to  East  Africa,  that  the  priests 
"besides  being  charm-makers  are  traders  both  in 
general  articles  and  more  largely  in  slaves."* 

We  have  only  time  to  consider  one  question  more, 
viz..  What  is  the  character  of  Islam  as  we  find  it  to- 
day, and  what  are  its  prospects  of  development? 
It  is  a  characteristic  of  our  age  that  no  religion 
stands  wholly  alone  and  uninfluenced  by  others.  It 
is  especially  true  that  the  systems  of  the  East  are  all 
deeply  affected  by  the  higher  ethics  and  purer  relig- 
ious conceptions  borrowed  from  Christianity.  Thus 
many  Mohammedans  of  our  day,  and  especially  those 
living  in  close  contact  with  our  Christian  civilization, 
are  rising  to  higher  conceptions  of  God  and  of  relig- 
ious truth  than  have  been  entertained  by  Moslems 
hitherto.  Canon  Taylor,  in  a  little  volume  entitled 
"  Leaves  from  an  Egyptian  Note-Book,"  has  drawn  a 
*  See  Church  Missionary  Intelligencer,  April,  1888. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    213 

picture  of  Islam  which  Omar  and  Othman  would 
hardly  have  recognized.  In  the  first  place  it  should 
be  remembered  that,  as  he  confesses,  his  reputation 
as  a  defender  of  Mohammed  and  his  system  had 
gone  before  him  to  Cairo,  and  that  he  was  understood 
to  be  a  seeker  after  facts  favorable  to  his  known  views. 
This  opened  the  hearts  of  friendly  Pashas  and  served 
to  bring  out  all  the  praises  that  they  could  bestow 
upon  their  own  faith.  It  appears  accordingly  that 
he  was  assured  by  them  that  polygamy  is  widely  dis- 
carded and  condemned  by  prominent  Moslems  in  such 
cities  as  Cairo  and  Alexandria,  that  many  leading 
men  are  highly  intelligent  and  widely  read,  that  they 
profess  belief  in  most  of  the  doctrines  held  by  the 
Christian  Church,  that  they  receive  the  inspired  testi- 
mony of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments — except  in  so 
far  as  they  have  been  corrupted  by  Christian  mani- 
pulation. This  exception,  however,  includes  all  that 
is  at  variance  with  the  Koran.  They  advocate  tem- 
perance and  condemn  the  slave  trade.  They  encour- 
age the  general  promotion  of  education,  and  what 
seems  to  the  credulous  Canon  most  remarkable  of 
all  is  that  they  express  deep  regret  that  Christians 
do  not  feel  the  same  charity  and  fellowship  toward 
Moslems  that  they  feel  toward  Christians  ! 

Now,  making  all  due  abatement  for  the  couleur  de 
rose  which  these  easy-going  and  politic  Pashas  may 
have  employed  with  their  English  champion,  it  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  a  class  of  Mohammedans  are 
found  in  the  great  cosmopolitan  cities  of  the  Levant 
who  have  come  to  recognize  the  spirit  of  the  age  in 
which  they  live.    Many  of  them  have  been  educated 


214    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

in  Europe ;  they  speak  several  languages ;  they  read 
the  current  literature ;  they  are  ashamed  of  the  old 
fanatical  Mohammedanism.  Though  they  cherish  a 
partisan  interest  in  the  recognized  religion  of  their 
country,  their  faith  is  really  eclectic ;  it  comes  not  from 
Old  Mecca,  but  is  in  part  a  product  of  the  awakened 
thought  of  the  nineteenth  century.  But  Canon  Tay- 
lor's great  fallacy  lies  in  trying  to  persuade  himself 
and  an  intelligent  Christian  public  that  this  is  Is- 
lam. He  wearies  himself  in  his  attempts  to  square 
the  modem  Cairo  with  the  old,  and  to  trace  the 
modem  gentlemanly  Pasha,  whose  faith  at  least  sits 
lightly  upon  his  soul,  as  a  legitimate  descendant  of 
the  fanatical  and  licentious  prophet  of  Arabia.  When 
he  strives  to  convince  the  world  that  because  these 
courteous  Pashas  feel  kindly  enough  toward  the 
Canon  of  York  and  others  like  him,  therefore  Islam 
is  and  always  has  been  a  charitable  and  highly  toler- 
ant system,  he  simply  stultifies  the  whole  testimony 
of  history.  He  tells  us  that  his  Egyptian  friends 
complain  that  "  whereas  they  regard  us  as  brother- 
believers  and  accept  our  scriptures,  they  are  never- 
theless denounced  as  infidels.  And  they  ask  why 
should  an  eternal  coldness  reign  in  our  hearts." 

Probably  they  are  not  acquainted  with  Samadu  of 
Western  Soudan  and  his  methods  of  propagandism. 
They  have  forgotten  the  career  of  El  Mahdi  ;  they  are 
not  familiar  with  the  terrible  oppression  of  the  Jews 
in  Morocco — with  which  even  that  in  Russia  cannot 
compare;  they  have  not  read  the  dark  accounts  of 
the  extortion  practised  by  the  Wahabees  of  Arabia, 
even  upon  Moslems  of  another  sect  on  their  pilgrim- 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    215 

ages  to  Mecca,^  nor  do  they  seem  to  know  that  Syrian 
converts  from  Islam  are  now  hiding  in  Egypt  from 
the  bloodthirsty  Moslems  of  Beyrut.  Finally,  he 
forgets  that  the  very  "  children  are  taught  formulas 
of  prayer  in  which  they  may  compendiously  curse 
Jews  and  Christians  and  all  imbelievers."t 

A  more  plausible  case  is  made  out  by  Canon  Tay- 
lor, Dr.  Blyden,  and  others  on  the  question  of  temper- 
ance. It  is  true  that  Moslems,  as  a  rule,  are  not  hard 
drinkers.  Men  and  races  of  men  have  their  besetting 
sins.  Drinking  was  not  the  special  vice  of  the  Arabs. 
Their  country  was  too  arid ;  but  they  had  another 
vice  of  which  Mohammed  was  the  chief  exemplar. 
Canon  Taylor  is  doubtless  correct  also  in  the  state- 
ment that  the  English  protectorate  in  Egypt  has 

*  Over  against  Canon  Taylor's  glowing  accounts  of  this  broad  and 
gentle  charity  we  may  place  the  testimony  of  Palgrave  in  regard 
to  the  remorseless  rapacity  practised  by  the  Wahabees  upon  the 
Shiyaees  of  Persia  while  passing  through  their  territory  in  their 
pilgrimages  to  a  common  shrine.  He  tells  us  that  "  forty  gold 
tomans  were  fixed  as  the  claim  of  the  Wahabee  treasury  on  every 
Persian  pilgrim  for  his  passage  through  R'ad,  and  forty  more  for  a 
safe  conduct  through  the  rest  of  the  empire — eighty  in  all.    .    .    . 

"  Every  local  governor  on  the  way  would  naturally  enough  take 
the  hint,  and  strive  not  to  let  the  '  enemies  of  God '  (for  this  is 
the  sole  title  given  by  Wahabees  to  all  except  themselves)  go  by 
without  spoiling  them  more  or  less.    .     .     . 

* '  So  that,  all  counted  up,  the  legal  and  necessary  dues  levied  on 
every  Persian  Shiyaee  while  traversing  Central  Arabia,  and  under 
Wahabee  guidance  and  protection,  amounted,  I  found,  to  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  gold  tomans,  equalling  nearly  sixty  pounds 
sterling.  English,  no  light  expenditure  for  a  Persian,  and  no  de- 
spicable gain  to  an  Arab." — Palgrave's  Cent7'al  and  Eastern  Africa, 
p.  161. 

f  Dodds  :  Mohammed,  Buddha^  and  Chnst,  p.  118. 


216     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

greatly  incresised  the  degree  of  intemperance,  and 
that  in  this  respect  the  presence  of  European  races 
generally  has  been  a  curse.  Certainly  too  much 
cannot  be  said  in  condemnation  of  the  wholesale 
liquor  trade  carried  on  in  Africa  by  unscrupulous 
subjects  of  Christian  nations.  But  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  whiskey  of  Cairo  and  of  the  West 
Coast  does  not  represent  Christianity  any  more  than 
the  Greek  assassin  or  the  Italian  pickpocket  in  Cairo 
represents  Islam.  Christian  philanthropists  in  Eu- 
rope and  America  are  seeking  to  suppress  the  evil. 
If  Christian  missionaries  in  West  Africa  were  selling 
rum  as  Moslem  MoUahs  are  bu3dng  and  selling  slaves 
in  Uganda,  if  the  Bible  authorized  the  system  as  the 
Koran  encourages  slavery  and  concubinage,  as  means 
of  propagandism,  a  parallel  might  be  presented ;  but 
the  very  reverse  is  true. 

As  a  rule  Nomadic  races  are  not  as  greatly  inclined 
to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  as  are  the  descendants  of 
the  ancient  tribes  of  Northern  Europe.  The  differ- 
ence is  due  to  climate,  temperament,  heredity,  and 
the  amoimt  of  supply.  The  Koran  discourages  in- 
temperance and  so  does  the  Bible ;  both  are  disre- 
garded when  the  means  of  gratification  are  abun- 
dant. 

The  Moguls  of  India  were  sots  almost  as  a  rule. 
Wealthy  Persian  Moslems  are  the  chief  purchasers  of 
the  native  wines.  Lander,  Schweinfurth,  and  even 
Mungo  Parke  all  speak  of  communities  in  Central 
Africa  as  wholly  given  to  intemperance.*  Egyptians 
even,  according  to  Canon  Taylor,  find  the  abundant 
*  Church  Missionary  InteUigencery  November,  1887. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    217 

supplies  afforded  by  Europeans  too  tempting  for 
the  restraints  of  the  Koran. 

One  of  the  most  significant  indications  that  the 
sober  judgment  of  all  enlightened  men  favors  the 
immense  superiority  of  the  Christian  faith  over  all 
ethnic  systems  is  the  fact  that  even  those  zealous 
apologists  who  have  most  plausibly  defended  the 
non-Christian  religions  have  subsequently  evinced 
some  misgivings  and  have  even  become  advocates  of 
the  superior  light  of  Christianity.  Sir  Edwin  Ar- 
nold, seeing  how  seriously  some  ill-grounded  Chris- 
tian people  had  interpreted  "  The  Light  of  Asia," 
has  since  made  amends  by  writing  "  The  Light  of 
the  World."  And  R.  Bosworth  Smith,  on  reading 
the  extravagant  glorification  given  to  Islam  by  Canon 
Isaac  Taylor,  whom  he  accuses  of  plagiarism  and 
absurd  exaggeration,  has  come  to  the  stand  as  a  wit- 
ness against  his  extreme  views.  Without  acknowl- 
edging any  important  modification  of  his  own  for- 
mer views  he  has  greatly  changed  the  place  of  em- 
phasis. He  has  not  only  recorded  his  condemnation 
of  Canon  Taylor's  extravagance  but  he  has  made  a 
strong  appeal  for  the  transcendent  superiority  of  the 
Christian  faith  as  that  alone  which  must  finally  re- 
generate Africa  and  the  world.  He  has  called  public 
attention  to  the  following  pointed  criticism  of  Canon 
Taylor's  plea  for  Islam,  made  by  a  gentleman  long 
resident  in  Algeria,  and  he  has  given  it  his  own  en- 
dorsement :  "  Canon  Isaac  Taylor,"  says  the  writer, 
"has  constructed  at  the  expense  of  Christianity  a 
rose-colored  picture  of  Islam,  by  a  process  of  com- 
parison in  which  Christianity  is  arraigned  for  fail- 


218     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ures  in  practice,  of  which  Christendom  is  deeply 
and  penitently  conscious,  no  account  being  taken  of 
Christian  precept ;  while  Islam  is  judged  by  its  bet- 
ter precepts  only,  no  account  being  taken  of  the 
frightful  shortcomings  in  Mohammedan  practice, 
even  from  the  standard  of  the  Koran."  *  No  in- 
dictment ever  carried  its  proofs  more  conspicuously 
on  its  face  than  this. 

E.  Bosworth  Smith's  subsequent  tribute  to  the 
relative  superiority  of  the  Christian  faith  was  given 
in  an  address  before  the  Fellows  of  Zion's  College, 
February  21,  1888.  I  give  his  closing  comparison 
entire ;  also  his  eloquent  appeal  for  Christian  Mis- 
sions in  Africa.  *'  The  resemblances  between  the  two 
Creeds  are  indeed  many  and  striking,  as  I  have  im- 
plied throughout ;  but,  if  I  may,  once  more,  quote  a 
few  words  which  I  have  used  elsewhere  in  dealing  with 
this  question,  the  contrasts  are  even  more  striking  than 
the  resemblances.  The  religion  of  Christ  contains 
whole  fields  of  morality  and  whole  realms  of  thought 
which  are  all  but  outside  the  religion  of  Mohammed. 
It  opens  humility,  purity  of  heart,  forgiveness  of  in- 
juries, sacrifice  of  self,  to  man's  moral  nature ;  it 
gives  scope  for  toleration,  development,  boundless 
progress  to  his  mind ;  its  motive  power  is  stronger 
even  as  a  friend  is  better  than  a  king,  and  love 
higher  than  obedience.  Its  realized  ideals  in  the 
various  paths  of  human  greatness  have  been  more 
commanding,  more  many-sided,  more  holy,  as  Aver- 
roes  is  below  Newton,  Harun  below  Alfred,  and  Ali 
below  St.  Paul.  Finally,  the  ideal  life  of  all  is  far 
*  Church  Missionary  Intelligencer ,  February,  1888,  p.  66. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    219 

more  elevating,  far  more  majestic,  far  more  inspir- 
ing, even  as  the  life  of  the  founder  of  Mohammedan- 
ism is  below  the  life  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity. 
"  If,  then,  we  believe  Christianity  to  be  truer  and 
purer  in  itself  than  Islam,  and  than  any  other  re- 
ligion, we  must  needs  wish  others  to  be  partakers  of 
it ;  and  the  effort  to  propagate  it  is  thrice  blessed — 
it  blesses  him  that  offers,  no  less  than  him  who  ac- 
cepts it;  nay,  it  often  blesses  him  who  accepts  it 
not.  The  last  words  of  a  dying  friend  are  apt  to 
linger  in  the  chambers  of  the  heart  till  the  heart  it- 
self has  ceased  to  beat ;  and  the  last  recorded  words 
of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  are  not  likely  to  pass 
from  the  memory  of  His  Church  till  that  Church  has 
done  its  work.  They  are  the  marching  orders  of  the 
Christian  army ;  the  consolation  for  every  past  and 
present  failure ;  the  earnest  and  the  warrant,  in  some 
shape  or  other,  of  ultimate  success.  The  value  of  a 
Christian  mission  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  measured 
by  the  number  of  its  converts.  The  presence  in  a 
heathen  or  a  Muslim  district  of  a  single  man  who, 
filled  with  the  missionary  spirit,  exhibits  in  his 
preaching  and,  so  far  as  may  be,  in  his  life,  the  seK- 
denying  and  the  Christian  virtues,  who  is  charged 
with  sympathy  for  those  among  whom  his  lot  is  cast, 
who  is  patient  of  disappointment  and  of  failure,  and 
of  the  sneers  of  the  ignorant  or  the  irreligious,  and 
who  works  steadily  on  with  a  single  eye  to  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  good  of  his  fellow-men,  is,  of  itseK, 
an  influence  for  good,  and  a  centre  from  which  it 
radiates,  wholly  independent  of  the  number  of  con- 
verts he  is  able  to  eiilist.     There  is  a  vast  number  of 


220     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

such  men  engaged  in  mission  work  all  over  the 
world,  and  our  best  Indian  staLtesmen,  some  of  whom, 
for  obvious  reasons,  have  been  hostile  to  direct  pros- 
elytizing efforts,  are  unanimous  as  to  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  the  services  they  render. 

"  Nothing,  therefore,  can  be  more  shallow,  or  more 
disingenuous,  or  more  misleading,  than  to  attempt  to 
disparage  Christian  missions  by  pitting  the  bare  num- 
ber of  converts  whom  they  claim  against  the  number 
of  converts  claimed  by  Islam.  The  numbers  are,  of 
course,  enormously  in  favor  of  Islam.  But  does 
conversion  mean  the  same,  or  anything  like  the 
same,  thing  in  each  ?  Is  it  in  pari  materia,  and  if 
not,  is  the  comparison  worth  the  paper  on  which  it 
is  written  ?  The  submission  to  the  rite  of  circum- 
cision and  the  repetition  of  a  confession  of  faith, 
however  noble  and  however  elevating  in  its  ultimate 
effect,  do  not  necessitate,  they  do  not  even  necessar- 
ily tend  toward  what  a  Christian  means  by  a  change 
of  heart.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  Mohammedan- 
ism to  deal  with  batches  and  with  masses.  It  is  the 
characteristic  of  Christianity  to  speak  straight  to  the 
individual  conscience. 

"  The  conversion  of  a  whole  Pagan  community  to 
Islam  need  not  imply  more  effort,  more  sincerity,  or 
more  vital  change,  than  the  conversion  of  a  single  in- 
dividual to  Christianity.  The  Christianity  accepted 
wholesale  by  Clovis  and  his  fierce  warriors,  in  the 
flush  of  victory,  on  the  field  of  battle,  or  by  the  Rus- 
sian peasants,  when  they  were  driven  by  the  Cossack 
whips  into  the  Dnieper,  and  baptized  there  by  force 
—these  are  truer  parallels  to  the  tribal  conversions 


MOHAMMEDANISM  PAST  AND  PRESENT    221 

to  Mohammedanism  in  Africa  at  the  present  day. 
And,  whatever  may  have  been  their  beneficial  effects 
in  the  march  of  the  centuries,  they  are  not  the  Chris- 
tianity of  Christ,  nor  are  they  the  methods  or  the  ob- 
jects at  which  a  Christian  missionary  of  the  present 
day  would  dream  of  aiming. 

"  A  Christian  missionary  could  not  thus  bring  over 
a  Pagan  or  a  Muslim  tribe  to  Christianity,  even  if  he 
would  ;  he  ought  not  to  try  thus  to  bring  them  over, 
even  if  he  could.  *  Missionary  work,'  as  remarked  by 
an  able  writer  in  the  Spectator  the  other  day,  *  is  sow- 
ing, not  reaping,  and  the  sowing  of  a  plant  which 
is  slow  to  bear.'  At  times,  the  difficulties  and  dis- 
couragements may  daunt  the  stoutest  heart  and  the 
most  living  faith.  But  God  is  greater  than  our 
hearts  and  wider  than  our  thoughts,  and,  if  we  are 
able  to  believe  in  Him  at  all,  we  must  also  believe 
that  the  ultimate  triumph  of  Christianity — and  by 
Christianity  I  mean  not  the  comparatively  narrow 
creed  of  this  or  that  particular  Church,  but  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  of  its  Founder,  that  Spirit  which,  exactly 
in  proportion  as  they  are  true  to  their  name,  in- 
forms, and  animates,  and  underlies,  and  overlies  them 
all — is  not  problematical,  but  certain,  and  in  His  good 
time,  across  the  lapse  of  ages,  will  prove  to  be,  not 
local  but  universal,  not  partial  but  complete,  not 
evanescent  but  eternal."  ^ 

*  Church  Missionary  InteUigencer,  April,  1888. 


LECTUEE  Vn. 

THE  TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM 

There  are  two  conflicting  theories  now  in  vogue 
in  regard  to  the  origin  of  religion.  The  first  is  that 
of  Christian  theists  as  taught  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  Scriptures,  viz.,  that  the  human  race  in 
its  first  ancestry,  and  again  in  the  few  survivors  of 
the  Deluge,  possessed  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
God.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  they  had  a 
full  and  mature  conception  of  Him,  or  that  that  con- 
ception excluded  the  idea  of  other  gods.  No  one 
would  maintain  that  Adam  or  Noah  comprehended 
the  nature  of  the  Infinite  as  it  has  been  revealed  in 
the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  men  in  later  times. 
But  from  their  simple  worship  of  one  God  their  de- 
scendants came  gradually  to  worship  various  visible 
objects  with  which  they  associated  their  blessings — 
the  sun  as  the  source  of  warmth  and  vitality,  the 
rain  as  imparting  a  quickening  power  to  the  earth, 
the  spirits  of  ancestors  to  whom  they  looked  with  a 
special  awe,  and  finally  a  great  variety  of  created 
things  instead  of  the  invisible  Creator.  The  other 
theory  is  that  man,  as  we  now  behold  him,  has  been 
developed  from  lower  forms  of  animal  life,  rising 
first  to  the  state  of  a  mere  human  animal,  but  gradu- 


TRACES  OF  A  PBIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    223 

ally  acquiring  intellect,  conscience,  and  finally  a  soul ; 
— that  ethics  and  religion  have  been  developed  from 
instinct  by  social  contact,  especially  by  ties  of  family 
and  the  tribal  relation;  that  altruism  which  began 
with  the  instinctive  care  of  parents  for  their  off- 
spring, rose  to  the  higher  domain  of  religion  and  be- 
gan to  recognize  the  claims  of  deity;  that  God,  if 
there  be  a  God,  never  revealed  himself  to  man  by 
any  preternatural  means,  but  that  great  souls,  like 
Moses,  Isaiah,  and  Plato,  by  their  higher  and  clear- 
er insight,  have  gained  loftier  views  of  deity  than 
others,  and  as  prophets  and  teachers  have  made 
known  their  inspirations  to  their  fellow-men.  Gradu- 
ally they  have  formed  rituals  and  elaborated  phil- 
osophies, adding  such  supernatural  elements  as  the 
ignorant  fancy  of  the  masses  was  supposed  to  de- 
mand. 

According  to  this  theory,  religions,  like  everything 
else,  have  grown  up  from  simple  germs  :  and  it  is 
only  in  the  later  stages  of  his  development  that  man 
can  be  said  to  be  a  religious  being.  While  an  animal 
merely,  and  for  a  time  even  after  he  had  attained  to 
a  rude  and  savage  manhood,  a  life  of  selfish  passion 
and  marauding  was  justifiable,  since  only  thus  could 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  be  secured  and  the  advance- 
ment of  the  race  attained.^  It  is  fair  to  say  that 
there  are  various  shades  of  the  theory  here  presented 
— some  materialistic,  some  theistic,  others  having  a 
qualified  theism,  and  still  others  practically  agnostic. 
Some  even  who  claim  to  be  Christians  regard  the  va- 
rious religions  of  men  as  so  many  stages  in  the  divine 
•Fiske:  TJie  Destiny  of  Man,  pp.  78-80. 


224:    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

education  of  the  race — all  being  under  the  direct  guid- 
ance of  God,  and  all  designed  to  lead  ultimately  to 
Christianity  which  is  the  goal. 

That  God  has  overruled  all  things,  even  the  errors 
and  wickedness  of  men,  for  some  wise  object  will  not 
be  denied ;  that  He  has  implanted  in  the  human  un- 
derstanding many  correct  conceptions  of  ethical  truth, 
so  that  nob]  e  principles  are  found  in  the  teachings  of 
all  religious  systems ;  that  God  is  the  author  of  all 
truth  and  all  right  impulses,  even  in  heathen  minds, 
is  readily  admitted.  But  that  He  has  directly  planned 
and  chosen  the  non-Christian  religions  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  half  -  truths  and  perverted  truths  and  the 
direct  opposites  of  the  truth,  were  best  adapted  to 
certain  stages  of  development — in  other  words,  that 
He  has  causatively  led  any  nation  into  error  and 
consequent  destruction  as  a  means  of  preparing  for 
subsequent  generations  something  higher  and  bet- 
ter, we  cannot  admit.  The  logic  of  such  a  conclusion 
would  lead  to  a  remorseless  fatalism.  Everything 
would  depend  on  the  age  and  the  environment  in 
which  one's  lot  were  cast.  We  cannot  believe  that 
fetishism  and  idolatry  have  been  God's  kindergar- 
ten method  of  training  the  human  race  for  the  higher 
and  more  spiritual  service  of  His  kingdom. 

Turning  from  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  a  priori  assumptions  of  evo- 
lution on  the  other,  what  is  the  witness  of  the  actual 
history  of  religions  ?  Have  they  shown  an  upward 
or  a  downward  development  ?  Do  they  appear  to 
have  risen  from  polytheism  toward  simpler  and  more 
spiritual  forms,  or  have  simple  forms  been  ramified 


TBAGE8  OF  A  PBIMITIVE  M0N0TBEI8M    225 

into  polytheism  ?  *  If  we  shall  be  able  to  establish 
clear  evidence  that  monotheistic  or  even  henotheistic 
types  of  faith  existed  among  all,  or  nearly  all,  the 
races  at  the  dawn  of  history,  a  very  important  point 
will  have  been  gained.  The  late  Dr.  Henry  B. 
Smith,  after  a  careful  perusal  of  Ebrard's  elaborate 
presentation  of  the  religions  of  the  ancient  and  the 
modem  world,  and  his  clear  proofs  that  they  had 
at  first  been  invariably  monotheistic  and  had  grad- 
ually lapsed  into  ramified  forms  of  polytheism,  says 
in  his  review  of  Ebrard's  work  :  "  We  do  not  know 
where  to  find  a  more  weighty  reply  to  the  assump- 
tions and  theories  of  those  writers  who  persist  in 
claiming,  according  to  the  approved  hypothesis  of 
a  merely  naturalistic  evolution,  that  the  primitive 
state  of  mankind  was  the  lowest  and  most  debased 
form  of  polytheistic  idolatry,  and  that  the  higher 
religions  have  been  developed  out  of  these  base  rudi- 
ments. Dr.  Ebrard  shows  conclusively  that  the 
facts  all  lead  to  another  conclusion,  that  gross  idol- 
atry is  a  degeneration  of  mankind  from  antecedent 
and  purer  forms  of  religious  worship.  .  .  .  He 
first  treats  of  the  civilized  nations  of  antiquity,  the 
Aryan  and  Indian  religions,  the  Yedas,  the  Indra 
period  of  Brahmanism  and  Buddhism  ;  then  of  the 
religion  of  the  Iranians,  the  Avesta  of  the  Parsees  ; 
next  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  Egyptians,  the 
Canaanites,  and  the  heathen  Semitic  forms  of  wor- 

*  We  do  not  care  to  enter  the  field  of  pre-historic  speculation 
where  the  evolution  of  religion  f rom  totemism  or  fetishism  claims 
to  find  its  chief  support.     We  are  considering  only  the  traditional 
development  of  the  ancient  faiths  of  man. 
15 


226     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ship,  including  the  Phoenicians,  Assyrians,  and  Baby- 
lonians. His  second  division  is  devoted  to  the  half- 
civilized  and  savage  races  in  the  North  and  West  of 
Europe,  in  Asia  and  Polynesia  (Tartars,  Mongols, 
Malays,  and  Cushites)  ;  then  the  races  of  America, 
including  a  minute  examination  of  the  relations  of 
the  different  races  here  to  the  Mongols,  Japanese,  and 
old  Chinese  immigrations."  ^ 

Ebrard  himself,  in  summing  up  the  results  of  these 
prolonged  investigations,  says  :  "  We  have  nowhere 
been  able  to  discover  the  least  trace  of  any  forward 
and  upward  movement  from  f etichism  to  polytheism, 
and  from  that  again  to  a  gradually  advancing  knowl- 
edge of  the  one  God  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  have 
foimd  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  heathen  world  a 
most  decided  tendency  to  sink  from  an  earlier  and 
relatively  purer  knowledge  of  God  toward  something 
lower,  f 

If  these  conclusions,  reached  by  Ebrard  and  en- 
dorsed by  the  scholarly  Dr.  Henry  B.  Smith,  are 
correct,  they  are  of  great  importance  ;  they  bring  to 
the  stand  the  witness  of  the  false  religions  them- 
selves upon  an  issue  in  which  historic  testimony  as 
distinguished  from  mere  theories  is  in  special  de- 
mand in  our  time.  Of  similar  import  are  the  well- 
considered  words  of  Professor  Naville,  in  the  first 
of  his  lectures  on  modem  atheism.  J  He  says  : 
"  Almost  all  pagans  seem  to  have  had  a  glimpse  of 
the  divine  unity  over  the  multiplicity  of  their  idols, 

*  Introduction  to  Christian  Theology,  Appendix,  pp.  166,  167. 
f  Ebrard's  Apologetics,  vols.  ii.  and  iiL 
X  Modern  Atheism,  p.  13. 


TRACES  OF  A  PBtMlTIVE  MONOTHEISM    22^ 

and  of  the  rays  of  the  divine  holiness  across  the  sat- 
urnalia of  their  Olympi.  It  was  a  Greek  (Cleanthus) 
who  wrote  these  words:  *  Nothing  is  accomplished 
on  the  earth  without  Thee,  O  God,  save  the  deeds 
which  the  wicked  perpetrate  in  their  folly.'  It  was 
in  a  theatre  at  Athens,  that  the  chorus  of  a  tragedy 
sang,  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago  :  *  May  des- 
tiny aid  me  to  preserve,  unsullied,  the  purity  of  my 
words,  and  of  all  my  actions,  according  to  those 
sublime  laws  which,  brought  forth  in  the  celestial 
heights,  have  the  raven  alone  for  their  father,  to 
which  the  race  of  mortals  did  not  give  birth  and 
which  oblivion  shall  never  entomb.  In  them  is  a 
supreme  God,  and  one  who  waxes  not  old.'  It  would 
be  easy  to  multiply  quotations  of  this  order  and  to 
show,  in  the  documents  of  Grecian  and  Roman  civil- 
ization, numerous  traces  of  the  knowledge  of  the  only 
and  holy  God." 

With  much  careful  discrimination.  Dr.  William  A. 
P.  Martin,  of  the  Peking  University,  has  said :  "It  is 
customary  with  a  certain  school  to  represent  religion 
as  altogether  the  fruit  of  an  intellectual  process.  It 
had  its  birth,  say  they,  in  ignorance,  is  modified  by 
every  stage  in  the  progress  of  knowledge,  and  ex- 
pires when  the  light  of  philosophy  reaches  its  noon- 
day. The  fetish  gives  place  to  a  personification  of 
the  powers  of  nature,  and  this  poetic  pantheon  is,  in 
time,  superseded  by  the  high  idea  of  unity  in  nature 
expressed  by  monotheism.  This  theory  has  the 
merit  of  verisimilitude.  It  indicates  what  might  be 
the  process  if  man  were  left  to  make  his  own  relig- 
ion ;  but  it  has  the  misfortune  to  be  at  variance  with 


228    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

facts.  A  wide  survey  of  the  history  of  civilized  na- 
tions (and  the  history  of  others  is  beyond  reach) 
shows  that  the  actual  process  undergone  by  the  hu- 
man mind  in  its  religious  development  is  precisely 
opposite  to  that  which  this  theory  supposes;  in  a 
word,  that  man  was  not  left  to  construct  his  own 
creed,  but  that  his  blundering  logic  has  always  been 
active  in  its  attempts  to  corrupt  and  obscure  a  divine 
original.  The  connection  subsisting  between  the  re- 
ligious systems  of  ancient  and  distant  countries  pre- 
sents many  a  problem  difficult  of  solution.  Indeed, 
their  mythologies  and  religious  rites  are  generally  so 
distinct  as  to  admit  the  hypothesis  of  an  indepen- 
dent origin ;  but  the  simplicity  of  their  earliest  be- 
liefs exhibits  an  unmistakable  resemblance,  sugges- 
tive of  a  common  source. 

"  China,  India,  Egypt,  and  Greece  all  agree  in  the 
monotheistic  type  of  their  early  religion.  The  Or- 
phic hymns,  long  before  the  advent  of  the  popular 
divinities,  celebrated  the  Pantheos,  the  Universal 
God.  The  odes  compiled  by  Confucius  testify  to 
the  early  worship  of  Shangte,  the  Supreme  Euler. 
The  Vedas  speak  of  *one  unknown  true  Being,  all- 
present,  all-powerful;  the  Creator,  Preserver,  and 
Destroyer  of  the  universe.'  And  in  Egypt,  as  late 
as  the  time  of  Plutarch,  there  were  still  vestiges  of  a 
monotheistic  worship.  'The  other  Egyptians,'  he 
says,  '  all  made  offerings  at  the  tombs  of  the  sacred 
beasts;  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  Thebaid  stood 
alone  in  making  no  such  offerings,  not  regarding  as 
a  god  anything  that  can  die,  and  acknowledging  no 
god  but  one,  whom  they  call  Kneph,  who  had  no 


TRAGE8  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    229 

birth,  and  can  have  no  death.  Abraham,  in  his 
wanderings,  found  the  God  of  his  fathers  known  and 
honored  in  Salem,  in  Gerar,  and  in  Memphis ;  while 
at  a  later  day  Jethro,  in  Midian,  and  Balaam,  in 
Mesopotamia,  were  witnesses  that  the  knowledge  of 
Jehovah  was  not  yet  extinct  in  those  countries.'  "  * 

Professor  Max  Miiller  speaks  in  a  similar  strain  of 
the  lapse  of  mankind  from  earlier  and  simpler  types 
of  faith  to  low  and  manifold  superstitions :  "  When- 
ever we  can  trace  back  a  religion  to  its  first  begin- 
ning," says  the  distinguished  Oxford  professor,  "  we 
find  it  free  from  many  of  the  blemishes  that  offend 
us  in  its  later  phases.  The  founders  of  the  an- 
cient religions  of  the  world,  as  far  as  we  can  judge, 
were  minds  of  a  high  stamp,  full  of  noble  aspira- 
tions, yearning  for  truth,  devoted  to  the  welfare  of 
their  neighbors,  examples  of  purity  and  unselfish- 
ness. What  they  desired  to  found  upon  earth  was 
but  seldom  realized,  and  their  sayings,  if  preserved 
in  their  original  form,  offered  often  a  strange  contrast 
to  the  practice  of  those  who  profess  to  be  their  dis- 
ciples. As  soon  as  a  religion  is  established,  and 
more  particularly  when  it  has  become  the  religion  of 
a  powerful  state,  the  foreign  and  worldly  elements 
encroach  more  and  more  on  the  original  foundation, 
and  human  interests  mar  the  simplicity  and  purity 
of  the  plan  which  the  founder  had  conceived  in  his 
own  heart  and  matured  in  his  communings  with  his 

God."t 

But  in  pursuing  our  subject  we  should  clearly  d^ 

*  The  Chinese,  pp.  163,  164. 

f  Chips  from  a  Qerman  Workshop^  vol.  i.,  p.  23. 


230    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITT 

termine  the  real  question  before  us.  How  much  may 
we  expect  to  prove  from  the  early  history  of  the  non- 
Christian  systems?  Not  certainly  that  all  nations 
once  received  a  knowledge  of  the  Old  Testament 
revelation,  as  some  have  claimed,  nor  that  all  races 
possessed  at  the  beginning  of  their  several  historic 
periods  one  and  the  same  monotheistic  faith.  We 
cannot  prove  from  non-scriptural  sources  that  their 
varying  monotheistic  conceptions  sprang  from  a 
common  belief.  We  cannot  prove  either  the  super- 
natural revelation  which  Professor  Max  Miiller  em- 
phatically rejects,  nor  the  identity  of  the  well-nigh 
universal  henotheisms  which  he  professes  to  be- 
lieve. We  cannot  prove  that  the  worship  of  one 
God  as  supreme  did  not  coexist  with  a  sort  of  wor- 
ship of  inferior  deities  or  ministering  spirits.  Al- 
most as  a  rule,  the  worship  of  ancestors,  or  spirits, 
or  rulers,  or  the  powers  of  nature,  or  even  totems  and 
fetishes  has  been  rendered  as  subordinate  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  one  supreme  deity  who  created  and  up- 
holds all  things.  Even  the  monotheism  of  Judaism 
and  of  Christianity  has  been  attended  with  the  be- 
lief in  angels  and  the  worship  of  intercessory  saints, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  many  superstitions  which  pre- 
vail among  the  more  ignorant  classes.  We  shall  only 
attempt  to  show  that  monotheism,  in  the  sense  of 
worshipping  one  God  as  supreme,  is  foimd  in  nearly 
all  the  early  teachings  of  the  world,  That  these  crude 
faiths  are  one  in  the  origin  is  only  presumable,  if  we 
leave  the  testimony  of  the  Bible  out  of  the  account. 

When  on  a  summer  afternoon  we  see  great  shafts 
of  light  arising  and  spreading  fan-shaped  from  behind 


TRAGES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    231 

a  cloud  which  lies  along  the  western  horizon,  we  have 
a  strong  presumption  that  they  all  spring  from  one 
great  limiinary  toward  which  they  converge,  although 
that  luminary  is  hidden  from  our  view.  So  tracing 
the  convergence  of  heathen  faiths  with  respect  to  one 
original  monotheism,  back  to  the  point  where  the 
prehistoric  obscurity  begins,  we  may  on  the  same 
principle  say  that  all  the  evidence  in  the  case,  and  it 
is  not  small,  points  toward  a  common  origin  for  the 
early  religious  conceptions  of  mankind. 

Professor  Robert  Flint,  in  his  scholarly  article  on 
Theism  in  "  The  Britannica,"  seems  to  discard  the 
idea  that  the  first  religion  of  mankind  was  monothe- 
ism ;  but  a  careful  study  of  his  position  will  show 
that  he  has  in  view  those  conceptions  of  monothe- 
ism which  are  common  to  us,  or,  as  he  expresses  it, 
"  monotheism  in  the  ordinary  or  proper  sense  of  the 
term,"  "  monotheism  properly  so  called,"  "  mono- 
theism which  excludes  polytheism,  etc."  Moreover, 
he  maintains  that  we  cannot,  from  historical  sources, 
learn  what  conceptions  men  first  had  of  God.  Even 
when  speaking  of  the  Old  Testament  record,  he  says  : 
"  These  chapters  (of  Genesis),  although  they  plainly 
teach  monotheism  and  represent  the  God  whose 
words  and  acts  are  recorded  in  the  Bible  as  no  mere 
national  God,  but  the  only  true  God,  they  do  not 
teach  what  is  alone  in  the  question — that  there  was 
a  primitive  monotheism,  a  monotheism  revealed 
and  known  from  the  beginning.  They  give  no  war- 
rant to  the  common  assumption  that  God  revealed 
monotheism  to  Adam,  Noah,  and  others  before  the 
Flood,  and  that  the  traces  of  monotheistic  beliefs 


232     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

and  tendencies  in  heathendom  are  derivable  from  the 
tradition  of  this  primitive  and  antediluvian  mono- 
theism. The  one  true  God  is  represented  as  making 
himself  known  by  particular  words  and  in  particular 
ways  to  Adam,  but  is  nowhere  said  to  have  taught 
him  that  He  only  was  God."  It  is  plain  that  Pro- 
fessor Flint  is  here  dealing  with  a  conception  of 
monotheism  which  is  exclusive  of  all  other  gods. 
And  his  view  is  undoubtedly  correct,  so  far  as  Adam 
was  concerned.  There  was  no  more  need  of  teach- 
ing him  that  his  God  was  the  only  God,  than  that 
Eve  was  the  only  woman.  With  Noah  the  case  is 
not  so  plain.  He  doubtless  worshipped  God  amid 
the  surroundings  of  polytheistic  heathenism.  Enoch 
probably  had  a  similar  environment,  and  there  is  no 
good  reason  for  supposing  that  their  monotheism 
may  not  have  been  as  exclusive  as  that  of  Abraham. 
But  with  respect  to  the  Gentile  nations,  the  dim 
traces  of  this  monism  or  henotheism  which  Professor 
Flint  seems  to  accord  to  Adam  and  to  Noah,  is  all 
that  we  are  contending  for,  and  all  that  is  necessary 
to  the  argument  of  this  lecture.  We  may  even  ad- 
mit that  heathen  deities  may  sometimes  have  been 
called  by  different  names  while  the  one  source  of 
power  was  intended.  Different  names  seem  to  have 
been  employed  to  represent  different  manifestations 
of  the  one  God  of  the  Old  Testament  according  to 
His  varied  relations  toward  His  people.  There  are 
those  who  deny  this  polyonomy,  as  Max  Miiller  has 
called  it,  and  who  maintain  that  the  names  in  the 
earliest  Veda  represented  distinct  deities ;  but,  by 
similar  reasoning.  Professor  Tiele  and  others  insist 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    233 

that  three  different  Hebrew  Gods,  according  to 
their  respective  names,  were  worshipped  in  succes- 
sive periods  of  the  Jewish  history.  It  seems  quite 
possible,  therefore,  that  a  too  restrictive  definition  of 
monotheism  may  prove  too  much,  by  opening  the 
way  for  a  claim  that  even  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian faith,  with  its  old  Testament  names  of  God,  its 
angels,  its  theophanies,  and  its  fully  developed  trin- 
ity, is  not  strictly  monotheistic.  For  our  present 
purpose,  traces  of  the  worship  of  one  supreme  God 
— call  it  monotheism  or  henotheism — is  all  that  is  re- 
quired. 

With  these  limitations  and  qualifications  in  view, 
let  us  turn  to  the  history  of  some  of  the  leading  non- 
Christian  faiths.  Looking  first  to  India,  we  find  in 
the  129th  hymn  of  the  Eig  Veda,  a  passage  which 
not  only  presents  the  conception  of  one  only  su- 
preme and  self -existing  Being,  but  at  the  same  time- 
bears  significant  resemblance  to  our  own  account  of 
the  creation  from  chaos.     It  reads  thus  : 

**  In  the  beginning  there  was  neither  naught  nor  aught, 
Then  there  was  neither  atmosphere  nor  sky  above, 
There  was  neither  death  nor  immortality. 
There  was  neither  day  nor  night,  nor  light,  nor  darkness, 
Only  the  EXISTENT  ONE  breathed  calmly  self-contained. 
Naught  else  but  He  was  there,  naught  else  above,  beyond. 
Then  first  came  darkness  hid  in  darkness,  gloom  in  gloom; 
Next  all  was  water,  chaos  indiscrete. 
In  which  ONE  lay  void,  shrouded  in  nothingness."* 

♦Professor  Banergea  (see  Indian  Antiquary,  February,  1875) 
thinks  that  this  Hindu  account  of  creation  shows  traces  of  the 
common  revelation  made  to  mankind. 


234    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

In  the  121st  hymn  of  the  same  Veda  occurs  a 
passage  which  seems  to  resemble  the  opening  of  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John.  It  reads  thus,  as  translated  by 
Sir  Monier  Williams : 

**  Him  let  us  praise,  the  golden  child  that  was 
In  the  beginning,  who  was  born  the  Lord, 
Who  made  the  earth  and  formed  the  sky." 

"  The  one  bom  Lord  "  reminds  us  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament expression,  "  the  only  begotten  Son."  Both 
were  "  in  the  beginning  ; "  both  were  the  creators  of 
the  world.  While  there  is  much  that  is  mysterious  in 
these  references,  the  idea  of  oneness  and  supremacy  is 
too  plain  to  be  mistaken.  Professor  Max  Miiller  has 
well  expressed  this  fact  when  he  said :  "  There  is  a 
monotheism  which  precedes  polytheism  in  the  Veda ; 
and  even  in  the  invocation  of  their  (inferior)  gods,  the 
remembrance  of  a  God,  one  and  infinite,  breaks 
through  the  mist  of  an  idolatrous  phraseology  like 
the  blue  sky  that  is  hidden  by  passing  clouds."^ 
These  monotheistic  conceptions  appear  to  have  been 
common  to  the  Aryans  before  their  removal  from 
their  early  home  near  the  sources  of  the  Oxus,  and 
we  shall  see  further  on  that  in  one  form  or  another 
they  survived  among  all  branches  of  the  migrating 
race.  The  same  distinguished  scholar  traces  the 
early  existence  of  monotheism  in  a  series  of  brief 
and  rapid  references  to  nearly  all  the  scattered  Ary- 
ans not  only,  but  also  to  the  Turanians  on  the  North 
and  East,  to  the  Tungusic,  Mongolic,  Tartaric,  and 
Finnic  tribes.  "  Everywhere,"  he  says,  "  we  find  a 
*  Science  of  Religion,  p.  99. 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    235 

worship  of  nature,  and  the  spirits  of  the  departed, 
but  behind  it  all  there  rises  a  belief  in  some  higher 
power  called  by  different  names,  who  is  Maker  and 
Protector  of  the  world,  and  who  always  resides  in 
heaven.""^  He  also  speaks  of  an  ancient  African  faith 
which,  together  with  its  worship  of  reptiles  and  of 
ancestors,  showed  a  vague  hope  of  a  future  life,  "  and  a 
not  altogether  faded  reminiscence  of  a  supreme  God," 
which  certainly  implies  a  previous  knowledge,  f 

The  same  prevalence  of  one  supreme  worship 
rising  above  all  idolatry  he  traces  among  the  various 
tribes  of  the  Pacific  Islands.  His  generalizations 
are  only  second  to  those  of  Ebrard.  Although  he 
rejects  the  theory  of  a  supernatural  revelation,  yet 
stronger  language  could  hardly  be  used  than  that 
which  he  employs  in  proof  of  a  universal  monotheis- 
tic faith.  X  "  Nowhere,"  he  says,  "  do  we  find  stronger 
arguments  against  idolatry,  nowhere  has  the  imity 

*  Science  of  Religion,  p.  88. 

f  '*  The  ancient  relics  of  African  faith  are  rapidly  disappearing  at 
the  approach  of  Mohammedan  and  Christian  missionaries  ;  but 
what  has  been  preserved  of  it,  chiefly  through  the  exertions  of 
learned  missionaries,  is  full  of  interest  to  the  student  of  religion, 
with  its  strange  worship  of  snakes  and  ancestors,  its  vague  hope 
of  a  future  life,  and  its  not  altogether  faded  reminiscence  of  a 
Supreme  God,  the  Father  of  the  black  as  well  as  of  the  white 
man." — Science  of  Religion,  p.  39. 

X  While  he  maintains  that  the  idea  of  God  must  have  preceded 
that  of  gods,  as  the  plural  always  implies  the  singular,  he  yet 
claims  very  justly  that  the  exclusive  conception  of  monotheism 
as  against  polytheism  could  hardly  have  existed.  Men  simply 
thought  of  God  as  God,  as  a  child  thinks  of  its  father,  and  does 
not  even  raise  the  question  of  a  second. — See  Chips  from  a  Oer- 
man  Workshop^  vol.  i.,  p.  349» 


236     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITT 

of  God  been  upheld  more  strenuously  against  the 
errors  of  polytheism,  than  by  some  of  the  ancient 
sages  of  India.  Even  in  the  oldest  of  the  sacred 
books,  the  Kig  Veda,  composed  three  or  four  thou- 
sand years  ago,  where  we  find  hymns  addressed  to 
the  different  deities  of  the  sky,  the  air,  the  earth, 
the  rivers,  the  protest  of  the  human  heart  against 
many  gods  breaks  forth  from  time  to  time  with  no 
uncertain  sound."  Professor  Miiller's  whole  position 
is  pretty  clearly  stated  in  his  first  lecture  on  "  The 
Science  of  Religion,"  in  which  he  protests  against 
the  idea  that  God  once  gave  to  man  "  a  preternatu- 
ral revelation  "  concerning  Himself ;  and  yet  he  gives 
in  this  same  lecture  this  striking  testimony  to  the  doc- 
trine of  an  early  and  prevailing  monotheistic  faith  : 

"  Is  it  not  something  worth  knowing,"  he  says, 
"  worth  knowing  even  to  us  after  the  lapse  of  four  or 
five  thousand  years,  that  before  the  separation  of  the 
Aryan  race,  before  the  existence  of  Sanskrit,  Greek, 
or  Latin,  before  the  gods  of  the  Veda  had  been  wor- 
shipped, and  before  there  was  a  sanctuary  of  Zeus 
among  the  sacred  oaks  of  Dodona,  one  Supreme  de- 
ity had  been  found,  had  been  named,  had  been  in- 
voked by  the  ancestors  of  our  race,  and  had  been  in- 
voked by  a  name  which  has  never  been  excelled  by 
any  other  name  ?  "  And  again,  on  the  same  subject, 
he  says :  "  If  a  critical  examination  of  the  ancient 
language  of  the  Jews  leads  to  no  worse  results  than 
those  which  have  followed  from  a  careful  interpreta- 
tion of  the  petrified  language  of  ancient  India  and 
Greece,  we  need  not  fear ;  we  shall  be  gainers,  not 
losers.     Like  an  old  precious  medal,  the  ancient  re- 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    237 

ligion,  after  the  rust  of  ages  has  been  removed,  will 
come  out  in  all  its  purity  and  brightness ;  and 
the  image  which  it  discloses  will  be  the  image  of  the 
Father,  the  Father  of  all  the  nations  upon  earth; 
and  the  superscription,  when  we  can  read  it  again, 
will  be,  not  only  in  Judea,  but  in  the  languages  of 
all  the  races  of  the  world,  the  Word  of  God,  revealed 
where  alone  it  can  be  revealed — revealed  in  the  heart 
of  man."  * 

The  late  Professor  Banergea,  of  Calcutta,  in  a  pub- 
lication entitled  "  The  Aryan  Witness,"  not  only 
maintained  the  existence  of  monotheism  in  the  early 
Vedas,  but  with  his  rare  knowledge  of  Sanskrit  and 
kindred  tongues,  he  gathered  from  Iranian  as  well  as 
Hindu  sources  many  evidences  of  a  monotheism  com- 
mon to  all  Aryans.  His  conclusions  derive  special 
value  from  the  fact  that  he  was  a  high  caste  Hindu, 
and  was  not  only  well  versed  in  the  sacred  language, 
but  was  perfectly  familiar  with  Hindu  traditions  and 
modes  of  thought.  He  was  as  well  qualified  to  judge 
of  early  Hinduism  as  Paul  was  of  Judaism,  and  for 
the  same  reason.  And  from  his  Hindu  standpoint, 
as  a  Pharisee  of  the  Pharisees,  though  afterward  a 
Christian  convert,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  ieclare  his 

*  St.  Augustine,  in  quoting  Cyprian,  shows  that  the  fathers  of 
the  Church  looked  upon  Plato  as  a  monotheist.  The  passage  is  as 
follows:  "For  when  he  (Cyprian)  speaks  of  the  Magians,  he 
says  that  the  chief  among  them,  Hostanes,  maintains  that  the 
true  God  is  invisible,  and  that  true  angels  sit  at  His  throne  ;  and 
that  Plato  agrees  with  this  and  believes  in  one  God,  considering 
the  others  to  be  demons;  and  that  Hermes  Trismegistus  also 
speaks  of  one  God,  and  confesses  that  He  is  incomprehensible." 
Augus.,  De  Baptismo  contra  DonaU^  Lib.  VI.,  Cap.  XLIV. 


238    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

belief,  not  only  that  the  early  Vedic  faith  was  mono- 
theistic, but  that  it  contained  traices  of  that  true 
revelation,  once  made  to  men.* 

In  the  same  line  we  find  the  testimony  of  the  vari- 
ous types  of  revived  Aryanism  of  our  own  times. 
The  Brahmo  Somaj,  the  Arya  Somaj,  and  other  simi- 
lar organizations,  are  not  only  all  monotheistic,  but 
they  declare  that  monotheism  was  the  religion  of  the 
early  Vedas.  And  many  other  Hindu  reforms,  some 
of  them  going  as  far  back  as  the  twelfth  century,  have 
been  so  many  returns  to  monotheism.  A  recent  Arya 
catechism  published  by  Ganeshi,  asserts  in  its  first 
article  that  there  is  one  only  God,  omnipotent,  infi- 
nite, and  eternal.  It  proceeds  to  show  that  the  Vedas 
present  but  one,  and  that  when  hymns  were  addressed 
to  Agni,  Vayu,  Indra,  etc.,  it  was  only  a  use  of  differ- 
ent names  for  one  and  the  same  Being. f 

It  represents  God  as  having  all  the  attributes  of 
supreme  Deity.  He  created  the  world  by  His  direct 
power  and  for  the  revelation  of  His  glory  to  His  creat- 
ures. Man,  according  to  the  Aryas,  came  not  by  evo- 
lution nor  by  any  of  the  processes  known  to  Hindu 
philosophy,  but  by  direct  creation  from  existing  atoms. 

In  all  this  it  is  easy  to  see  that  much  has  been 
borrowed  from  the  Christian  conception  of  God's 
character  and  attributes,  but  the  value  of  this  Aryan 
testimony  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  claims  for  the  ancient 
Vedas  a  clear  and  positive  monotheism. 

*  The  Aryan  Witness^  passim. 

f  Aristotle  said,  "God,  though  He  is  one,  has  many  names,  be- 
cause He  is  called  according  to  the  states  into  which  He  always 
enters  anew.** 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    239 

If  we  consult  the  sacred  books  of  China,  we  shall 
find  there  also  many  traces  of  an  ancient  faith  which 
antedates  both  Confucianism  and  Taouism.  The 
golden  age  of  the  past  to  which  all  Chinese  sages 
look  with  reverence,  was  the  dynasty  of  Yao  and 
Shun,  which  was  eighteen  centuries  earlier  than  the 
period  of  Confucius  and  Laotze.  The  records  of  the 
Shu-king  which  Confucius  compiled,  and  from  which 
imfortunately  his  agnosticism  excluded  nearly  all  its 
original  references  to  religion,  nevertheless  retain  a 
full  account  of  certain  sacred  rites  performed  by 
Shim  on  his  accession  to  the  full  imperial  power.  In 
those  rites  the  worship  of  One  God  as  supreme  is 
distinctly  set  forth  as  a  "  customary  service,"  there- 
by implying  that  it  was  already  long  established. 
Separate  mention  is  also  made  of  offerings  to  inferior 
deities,  as  if  these  were  honored  at  his  own  special 
instance.  It  is  unquestionably  true  that  in  China, 
and  indeed  in  all  lands,  there  sprang  up  almost  from 
the  first  a  tendency  to  worship,  or  at  least  to  fear, 
unseen  spirits.  This  tendency  has  coexisted  with 
all  religions  of  the  world — even  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment cult — even  with  Christianity.  To  the  excited 
imaginations  of  men,  especially  the  ignorant  classes, 
the  world  has  always  been  a  haimted  world,  and  just 
in  proportion  as  the  light  of  true  religion  has  become 
dim,  countless  hordes  of  ghosts  and  demons  have 
appeared.  When  Confucius  arose  this  gross  anim- 
ism had  almost  monopolized  the  worship  of  his 
countrymen,  and  universal  corruption  bore  sway. 
He  was  not  an  original  thinker,  but  only  a  compiler 
of  the  ancient  wisdom,  and  in  his  selections  from  the 


240    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

traditions  of  the  ancients,  lie  compiled  those  things 
only  which  served  his  great  purpose  of  building  up, 
from  the  relations  of  family  and  kindred,  the  complete 
pyramid  of  a  well-ordered  state  in  which  the  Em- 
peror should  hold  to  his  subjects  the  place  of  deity. 
If  such  honor  to  a  mortal  seemed  extravagant,  yet  in 
his  view  a  wise  emperor  was  far  worthier  of  rever- 
ence than  the  ima-ginary  ghosts  of  the  popular  super- 
stitions. Yet,  even  Confucius  could  not  quite  suc- 
ceed in  banishing  the  idea  of  divine  help,  nor  could 
he  destroy  that  higher  and  most  venerable  worship 
which  has  ever  survived  amid  all  the  corruptions  of 
polytheism.  Professor  Legge,  of  Oxford,  has  claimed, 
from  what  he  regards  as  valid  linguistic  proofs,  that 
at  a  still  earlier  period  than  the  dynasty  af  Yao  and 
Shun  there  existed  in  China  the  worship  of  one  God. 
He  says :  "  Five  thousand  years  ago  the  Chinese 
were  monotheists — not  henotheists,  but  monothe- 
ists  " — though  he  adds  that  even  then  there  was  a 
constant  struggle  with  nature-worship  aad  divina- 
tion.* 

The  same  high  authority  cites  a  remarkable  prayer 
of  an  Emperor  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (1538  A.D.)  to 
show  that  in  spite  of  the  agnosticism  and  reticence 
of  Confucius,  Shangte  has  been  worshipped  in  the 
centuries  which  have  followed  his  time.  The  prayer 
is  very  significant  as  showing  how  the  One  Supreme 
God  stands  related  to  the  subojdinate  gods  which 
polytheism  has  introduced.  The  Emperor  was  about 
to  decree  a  slight  change  in  the  name  of  Shangte  to 
be  used  in  the  imperial  worship.  He  first  addressed 
*  The  Rdigiom  of  China^  p.  16. 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    241 

the  spirits  of  the  hills,  the  rivers,  and  the  seas,  ask- 
ing them  to  intercede  for  him  with  Shangte.  "  We 
will  trouble  you,"  said  he,  "  on  our  behalf  to  exert 
your  spiritual  power  and  to  display  your  vigorous 
efficacy,  communicating  our  poor  desires  to  Shangte, 
and  praying  him  graciously  to  grant  us  his  accept- 
ance and  regard,  and  to  be  pleased  with  the  title 
which  we  shall  reverently  present."  But  very  dif- 
ferent was  the  language  used  when  he  came  to  ad- 
dress Shangte  himself.  "  Of  old,  in  the  beginning," 
he  began,  — "  Of  old  in  the  beginning,  there  was  the 
great  chaos  without  form,  and  dark.  The  five  ele- 
ments had  not  begun  to  revolve  nor  the  sun  and 
moon  to  shine.  In  the  midst  thereof  there  presented 
itseK  neither  form  nor  sound.  Thou,  O  spiritual 
Sovereign !  ofimest  forth  in  thy  presidency,  and  first 
didst  divide  the  grosser  parts  from  the  purer.  Thou 
madest  heaven:  Thou  madest  earth:  Thou  madest 
man.  All  things  got  their  being  with  their  producing 
power.  O  Te  !  when  Thou  hadst  opened  the  course 
for  the  inactive  and  active  forces  of  matter  to  operate, 
thy  making  work  went  on.  Thou  didst  produce,  O 
Spirit !  the  sun  and  moon  and  five  planets,  and  pure 
and  beautiful  was  their  light.  The  vault  of  heaven 
was  spread  out  like  a  curtain,  and  the  square  earth 
supported  all  on  it,  and  all  creatures  were  happy.  I, 
thy  servant,  presume  reverently  to  thank  Thee." 
Farther  on  he  says :  "  All  the  numerous  tribes  of 
animated  beings  are  indebted  to  Thy  favor  for  their 
being.  Men  and  creatures  are  emparadised  in  Thy 
love.  All  living  things  are  indebted  to  Thy  good- 
ness. But  who  knows  whence  his  blessings  come  to 
10 


242    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

him  ?    It  is  Thou,  O  Lord !  who  art  the  parent  of  all 
things."  ^ 

Surely  this  prayer  humbly  offered  by  a  monarch 
would  not  be  greatly  out  of  place  among  the  Psalms 
of  David.  Its  description  of  the  primeval  chaos 
strikingly  resembles  that  which  I  have  quoted  from 
the  Rig  Yeda,  and  both  resemble  that  of  the  Mosaic 
record.  If  the  language  used  does  not  present  the 
clear  conception  of  one  God,  the  Creator  and  the  Up- 
holder of  all  things,  and  a  supreme  and  personal 
Sovereign  over  kings  and  even  "  gods,"  then  language 
has  no  meaning.  The  monotheistic  conception  of 
the  second  petition  is  as  distinct  from  the  polytheism 
of  the  first,  as  any  prayer  to  Jehovah  is  from  a 
Boman  Catholic's  prayer  for  the  intercession  of  the 
saints ;  and  there  is  no  stronger  argument  in  the  one 
case  against  monotheism  than  in  the  other.  Dr. 
Legge  asserts  that  both  in  the  Shu-king  and  in  the 
Shiking,  "  Te,"  or  "  Shangte,"  appears  as  a  personal 
being  ruling  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  the  author  of 
man's  moral  nature,  the  governor  among  the  nations, 
the  rewarder  of  the  good  and  the  punisher  of  the 
eviLf  There  are  proofs  that  Confucius,  though  in 
his  position  with  respect  to  God  he  fell  short  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  ancient  sages,  yet  believed  in  the  ex- 
istence of  Shangte  as  a  personal  being.  When  in 
old  age  he  had  finished  his  writings,  he  laid  them  on 
an  altar  upon  a  certain  hill-top,  and  kneeling  before 

*  The  Religions  of  China,  p.  49. 

f  "  In  the  year  1600  the  Emperor  of  China  declared  in  an  edict 
that  the  Chinese  should  adore,  not  the  material  heavens,  but  the 
Master  of  heaven."— Cardinal  Gibbons:  Our  Christian  Heritage, 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    243 

the  altar  he  returned  thanks  that  he  had  been  spared 
to  complete  his  work.^  Max  Miiller  says  of  him : 
"  It  is  clear  from  many  passages  that  with  Confucius, 
Tien,  or  the  Spirit  of  Heaven,  was  the  supreme 
deity,  and  that  he  looked  upon  the  other  gods  of  the 
people — the  spirits  of  the  air,  the  mountains,  and  the 
rivers,  f  and  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  very  much 
with  the  same  feeling  with  which  Socrates  regarded 
the  mythological  deities  of  Greece."  % 

But  there  remains  to  this  day  a  remarkable  evi- 
dence of  the  worship  of  the  supreme  God,  Shangte, 
as  he  was  worshipped  in  the  days  of  the  Emperor 
Shun,  2356  B.C.  It  is  found  in  the  great  Temple  of 
Heaven  at  Peking.  Dr.  Martin  and  Professors 
Legge  and  Douglas  all  insist  that  the  sacrifices  there 
celebrated  are  relics  of  the  ancient  worship  of  a  su- 
preme God.  China  is  full  of  the  traces  of  polythe- 
ism; the  land  swarms  with  Taouist  deities  of  all 
names  and  functions,  with  Confucian  and  ancestral 
tablets,  and  with  Buddhist  temples  and  dagobas; 
but  within  the  sacred  enclosure  of  this  temple  no 
symbol  of  heathenism  appears.  Of  the  August  Im- 
perial service  Dr.  Martin  thus  eloquently  speaks  :  § 
"  Within  the  gates  of  the  southern  division  of  the 

*  Martin  :  The  Chinese^  p.  106. 

f  It  has  been  related  by  Rev.  Hudson  Taylor  that  the  fishermen 
of  the  Fukien  Province,  when  a  storm  arises,  pray  to  the  goddess 
of  the  sea  ;  but  when  that  does  not  avail  they  throw  all  the  idols 
aside  and  pray  to  the  "  Great-grandfather  in  Heaven."  Father  is 
a  great  conception  to  the  Chinese  mind.  Great-grandfather  is 
higher  still,  and  stands  to  them  for  the  Supreme. 

X  Science  of  Religion,  p.  86. 

§  Tlie  Chinese,  p.  99. 


244    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

capital,  and  surrounded  by  a  sacred  grove  so  exten- 
sive that  the  silence  of  its  deep  shades  is  never  bro- 
ken by  the  noise  of  the  busy  world  around  it,  stands 
the  Temple  of  Heaven.  It  consists  of  a  single 
tower,  whose  tiling  of  resplendent  azure  is  intended 
to  represent  the  form  and  color  of  the  aerial  vault. 
It  contains  no  image ;  but  on  a  marble  altar  a  bul- 
lock is  offered  once  a  year  as  a  burnt  sacrifice,  while 
the  monarch  of  the  empire  prostrates  himself  in 
adoration  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Universe.  This  is  the 
high  place  of  Chinese  devotion,  and  the  thoughtful 
visitor  feels  that  he  ought  to  tread  its  courts  with 
unsandalled  feet,  for  no  vulgar  idolatry  has  entered 
here.  This  mountain- top  still  stands  above  the 
waves  of  corruption,  and  on  this  solitary  altar  there 
still  rests  a  faint  ray  of  its  primeval  faith.  The  tab- 
let which  represents  the  invisible  deity  is  inscribed 
with  the  name  Shangte,  the  Supreme  Ruler,  and  as 
we  contemplate  the  Majesty  of  the  Empire  before 
it,  while  the  smoke  ascends  from  his  burning  sacri- 
fice, our  thoughts  are  irresistably  carried  back  to  the 
time  when  the  King  of  Salem  officiated  as  priest  of 
the  Most  High  God.  There  is,"  he  adds,  "  no  need 
of  extended  argument  to  establish  the  fact  that  the 
early  Chinese  were  by  no  means  destitute  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God."  Dr.  Legge,  the  learned 
translator  of  the  Chinese  classics,  shares  so  fully  the 
views  here  expressed,  that  he  actually  put  his  shoes 
from  off  his  feet  before  ascending  the  great  altar, 
feeling  that  amidst  all  the  mists  and  darkness  of  the 
national  superstition,  a  trace  of  the  glory  of  the  In- 
fijiite  Jehovah  still  lingered  there.     And  in  many  a 


TRAOES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    245 

iiscussion  since  he  has  firmly  maintained  that  that 
is  in  a  dim  way  an  altar  of  the  true  and  living  God. 

Laotze,  like  Confucius,  was  agnostic  ;  yet  he  could 
not  wholly  rid  himself  of  the  influence  of  the  ancient 
faith.  His  conception  of  Taou,  or  Eeason,  was  ra- 
tionalistic, certainly,  yet  he  invested  it  with  all  the 
attributes  of  personality,  as  the  word  "  Wisdom  "  is 
sometimes  used  in  the  Old  Testament.  He  spoke 
of  it  as  "The  Infinite  Supreme,"  "The  First  Be- 
ginning," and  "  The  Great  Original."  Dr.  Medhurst 
has  translated  from  the  "  Taou  Teh  King  "  this  strik- 
ing Taouist  prayer  :  "  O  thou  perfectly  honored  One 
of  heaven  and  earth,  the  rock,  the  origin  of  myriad 
energies,  the  great  manager  of  boundless  kalpas,  do 
Thou  enlighten  my  spiritual  conceptions.  Within 
and  without  the  three  worlds,  the  Logos,  or  divine 
Taou,  is  alone  honorable,  embodying  in  himself  a 
golden  light.  May  he  overspread  and  illumine  my 
person.  He  whom  we  cannot  see  with  the  eye,  or 
hear  with  the  ear,  who  embraces  and  includes  heav- 
en and  earth,  may  he  nourish  and  support  the  mul- 
titudes of  living  beings." 

If  we  turn  to  the  religion  of  the  Iranian  or  Per- 
sian branch  of  the  Aryan  family,  we  find  among 
them  also  the  traces  of  a  primitive  monotheism  ;  and 
that  it  was  not  borrowed  from  Semitic  sources, 
through  the  descendants  of  Abraham  or  others, 
Ebrard  has  shown  clearly  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  "  Apologetics."  Max  Miiller  also  maintains  the 
identity  of  the  Iranian  faith  with  that  of  the  Indo- 
Aryans.  The  very  first  notices  of  the  religion  of  the 
Avesta  represent  it  as  monotheistic.     Ahura  Mazda, 


246    ORIENTAL  RELI0I0N8  AND  GHRI8TIANITT 

even  when  opposed  by  Ahriman,  is  supreme,  and  in 
the  oldest  hymns  or  gathas  of  the  Yasna,  Ahriman 
does  not  appear ;  there  are  references  to  evil  beings, 
but  they  have  no  formidable  head ;  Persian  dualism, 
therefore,  was  of  later  growth.  Zoroaster,  whom 
Monier  Williams  assigns  to  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century  B.C.,*  speaks  of  himself  as  a  reformer  sent 
to  re-establish  the  pure  worship  of  Ahura,  and  Haug 
considers  the  conception  of  Ahura  identical  with  that 
of  Jehovah.  High  on  a  rocky  precipice  at  Behis- 
tun,  Rawlinson  hsis  deciphered  an  inscription  claim- 
ing to  have  been  ordered  by  Darius  Hystaspes, 
who  lived  500  B.C.,  which  is  as  clearly  monotheis- 
tic as  the  Song  of  Moses.  The  Vendidad,  which 
Rawlinson  supposes  to  have  been  composed  800 
years  B.C.,  is  full  of  references  to  minor  gods,  but 
Ahura  is  always  supreme.  The  modern  Parsees  of 
Bombay  claim  to  be  monotheistic,  and  declare  that 
such  has  been  the  faith  of  their  fathers  from  the  be- 
ginning. 

A  Parsee  catechism  published  in  Bombay  twenty- 
five  years  ago  reads  thus  :  "  "We  believe  in  only  one 
God,  and  do  not  believe  in  any  besides  Him.  .  .  . 
He  is  the  God  who  created  the  heavens,  the  earth, 
the  angels,  the  stars,  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  fire,  the 
water,  .  .  .  and  all  things  of  the  worlds ;  that 
God  we  believe  in.  Him  we  invoke,  Him  we  adore." 
And  lest  this  should  be  supposed  to  be  a  modem 
faith,  the  confession  further  declares  that  "  This  is 

*  other  writers  contend  that  he  was  probably  contemporaneons 
with  Abraham.  Still  others  think  Zoroaster  a  general  name  for 
great  prophets.     Darmestetter  inclines  to  this  view. 


TBAGE8  OF  A  PBIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    M7 

the  religion  which  the  true  prophet  Zurthust,  or  Zo- 
roaster, brought  from  God." 

The  Shintoists  of  Japan,  according  to  their  sacred 
book,  the  "  Kojiki,"  believe  in  one  self-existent  and 
supreme  God,  from  whom  others  emanated.  From 
two  of  these,  male  and  female,  sprang  the  Goddess  of 
the  Sun,  and  from  her  the  royal  line  of  the  Mikados. 
There  was  no  creation,  but  the  two  active  emanations 
stirred  up  the  eternally  existing  chaos,  till  from  it 
came  forth  the  teeming  world  of  animal  and  vegeta- 
ble life. 

It  has  often  been  asserted  that  tribes  of  men  axe 
found  who  have  no  conception  of  God.  The  author 
of  "  Two  Years  in  the  Jungle  "  declares  that  the  Hill 
Dyaks  of  Borneo  are  without  the  slightest  notion  of 
a  divine  being.  But  a  Government  officer,  who  for 
two  years  was  the  guest  of  Bajah  Brooke,  succeeded 
after  long  delay  in  gaining  a  key  to  the  religion  of 
these  Dyaks.  He  gives  the  name  of  one  Supreme 
being  among  subordinate  gods,  and  describes  mi- 
nutely the  forms  of  worship.  Professor  Max  Miiller, 
while  referring  to  this  same  often-repeated  allega- 
tion as  having  been  applied  to  the  aborigines  of 
Australia,  cites  one  of  Sir  Hercules  Kobinson's  Re- 
ports on  New  South  Wales,  which  contains  this  de- 
scription of  the  singular  faith  of  one  of  the  lowest  of 
the  interior  tribes :  ^  First  a  being  is  mentioned 
who  is  supreme  and  whose  name  signifies  the 
"  maker  or  cutter-out,"  and  who  is  therefore  wor- 
shipped as  the  great  author  of  all  things.  But  as 
this  supreme  god  is  supposed  to  be  inscrutable  and 
*  Chips  from  a  German  Workshop. 


248     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

far  removed,  a  second  deity  is  named,  who  is  tlie  re- 
vealer  of  the  first  and  his  mediator  in  all  the  affairs 
of  men.* 

Rev.  A.  C.  Good,  now  a  missionary  among  the 
cannibal  tribes  of  West  Africa,  stated  in  the  Pres- 
byterian General  Assembly  at  Saratoga  in  May, 
1890,  that  with  all  the  fetishes  and  superstitions 
known  among  the  tribes  on  the  Ogovie,  if  a  man  is 
asked  who  made  him,  he  points  to  the  sky  and  ut- 
ters the  name  of  an  unknown  being  who  created  all 
things,  t  When  Tschoop,  the  stalwart  Mohican 
chief,  came  to  the  Moravians  to  ask  that  a  mission- 
ary might  be  sent  to  his  people,  he  said :  "Do  not 
send  us  a  man  to  tell  us  that  there  is  a  God — we  all 
know  that;  or  that  we  are  sinners — we  all  know 
that ;  but  send  one  to  tell  us  about  salvation."  % 
Even  Buddhism  has  not  remained  true  to  the  athe- 

*  Archbishop  Vaughn,  of  Sydney,  emphatically  declares  that 
the  aborigines  of  Australia  believe  in  a  Supreme  Being, 

f  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Lagos,  has  expressed  a  belief  that  the 
pagan  tribes  of  West  Africa  were  monotheists  before  the  incur- 
sion of  the  Mohammedans.  Rev.  Alfred  Marling,  of  Gaboon, 
bears  the  same  testimony  of  the  Fans. 

X  Rev.  A.  C.  Thompson,  D.D.     I'he  Moi'amans. 

One  of  the  early  converts  from  among  the  O  jib  was,  said  to  the 
missionary,  Rev.  S.  G.  Wright :  "A  great  deal  of  your  preaching 
I  readily  understand,  especially  what  you  say  about  our  real 
characters.  We  Indians  all  know  that  it  is  wrong  to  lie,  to  steal, 
to  be  dishonest,  to  slander,  to  be  covetous,  and  we  always  know 
that  the  Great  Spirit  hates  all  these  things.  All  this  we  knew 
before  we  ever  saw  the  white  man.  I  knew  these  things  when  I 
was  a  little  boy.  We  did  not,  however,  know  the  way  of  pardon 
for  these  sins.  In  our  religion  there  is  nothing  said  by  the  wise 
men  about  pardon.  We  knew  nothing  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
as  a  Saviour." 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    249 

ism  of  its  founder.  A  Thibetan  Lama  said  to  Abbe 
Hue :  "  You  must  not  confound  religious  truths 
with  the  superstitions  of  the  vulgar.  The  Tar- 
tars prostrate  themselves  before  whatever  they  see, 
but  there  is  one  only  Sovereign  of  the  universe, 
the  creator  of  all  things,  alike  without  beginning 
and  without  end." 

But  what  is  the  testimony  of  the  great  dead  relig- 
ions of  the  past  with  respect  to  a  primitive  mono- 
theism? It  is  admitted  that  the  later  develop- 
ments of  the  old  Egyptian  faith  were  polytheistic. 
But  it  has  generally  been  conceded  that  as  we  ap- 
proach the  earliest  notices  of  that  faith,  monotheistic 
features  more  and  more  prevail.  This  position  is 
contested  by  Miss  Amelia  B.  Edwards  and  others, 
who  lean  toward  the  development  theory.  Miss 
Edwards  declares  that  the  earliest  faith  of  Egypt 
was  mere  totemism,  while  on  the  other  hand  Eb- 
rard,  gathering  up  the  results  of  the  researches  of 
Lepsius,  Ebers,  Brugsch,  and  Emanuel  de  Konge,  de- 
duces what  seem  to  be  clear  evidences  of  an  early 
Egyptian  monotheism.  He  quotes  Manetho,  who 
declares  that  "  for  the  first  nine  thousand  years 
the  god  Ptah  ruled  alone;  there  was  no  other." 
According  to  inscriptions  quoted  by  De  Rong^,  the 
Egyptians  in  the  primitive  period  worshipped  "  the 
one  being  who  truly  lives,  who  has  made  all  things, 
and  who  alone  has  not  been  made."  This  one  God 
was  known  in  different  parts  of  Egypt  under  differ- 
ent names,  which  only  in  later  times  came  to  stand 
for  distinct  beings.  A  text  which  belongs  to  a 
period  fifteen  hundred  years  before  Moses  says: 


250     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

"  He  has  made  all  that  is  ;  thou  alone  art,  the  mill- 
ions owe  their  being  to  thee ;  he  is  the  Lord  of  all 
that  which  is,  and  of  that  which  is  not."  A  papyrus 
now  in  Paris,  dating  2300  B.C.,  contains  quotations 
from  two  much  older  records,  one  a  writing  of  the 
time  of  King  Suffem,  about  3500  B.C.,  which  says  : 
"  The  operation  of  God  is  a  thing  which  cannot  be 
imderstood."  The  other,  from  a  writing  of  Ptah 
Hotep,  about  3000  B.C.,  reads:  "This  is  the  com- 
mand of  the  God  of  creation,  the  peaceable  may 
come  and  issue  orders.  .  .  .  The  eating  of  bread 
is  in  conformity  with  the  ordinance  of  God  ;  can  one 
forget  that  his  blessing  rests  thereupon  ?  ...  If 
thou  art  a  prudent  man  teach  thy  son  the  love  of 
God."  * 

Professor  Ernest  Naville,  in  speaking  of  this  same 
subject  in  a  course  of  popular  lectures  in  Geneva, 

*  Professor  Tiele,  of  Leyden,  asserts  that  "It  is  altogether 
erroneous  to  regard  the  Egyptian  religion  as  the  polytheistic 
degeneration  of  a  prehistoric  monotheism.  It  was  polytheistic 
from  the  beginning,"  But  on  one  of  the  oldest  of  Egyptian 
monuments  is  found  this  hymn,  which  is  quoted  by  Cardinal 
Gibbons  in  Our  Christian  Inheritance  : 

*'Hail  to  thee,  say  all  creatures  ;     .     .     . 
The  gods  adore  thy  majesty, 
The  spirits  thou  has  made  exalt  thee, 
Rejoicing  before  the  feet  of  their  begetter. 
They  cry  out  welcome  to  thee, 
Father  of  the  fathers  of  all  the  gods, 
Who  raises  the  heavens,  who  fixes  the  earth  ; 
We  worship  thy  spirit  who  alone  hast  made  us, 
We  whom  thou  hast  made  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  given  us 

birth, 
We  give  to  thee  praises  for  thy  mercy  toward  us." 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    251 

said :  "  Listen  now  to  a  voice  which  has  come  forth 
actually  from  the  recesses  of  the  sepulchre :  it  reaches 
us  from  ancient  Egypt. 

"In  Egypt,  as  you  know,  the  degradation  of  the  re- 
ligious idea  was  in  popular  practice  complete.  But 
under  the  confused  accents  of  superstition  the  science 
of  our  age  is  succeeding  in  catching  from  afar  the 
vibrations  of  a  sublime  utterance.  In  the  coffins  of  a 
large  number  of  mummies  have  been  discovered  rolls 
of  papyrus  containing  a  sacred  text  which  is  called 
'  The  Book  of  the  Dead.'  Here  is  the  translation  of 
some  fragments  which  appear  to  date  from  a  very 
remote  epoch.  It  is  God  who  speaks  thus :  *  I  am 
the  Most  Holy,  the  Creator  of  all  that  replenishes 
the  earth,  and  of  the  earth  itself,  the  habitation  of 
mortals.  I  am  the  Prince  of  the  infinite  ages.  I 
am  the  Great  and  Mighty  God,  the  Most  High,  shin- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  careering  stars  and  of  the 
armies  which  praise  me  above  thy  head.  .  .  . 
It  is  I  who  chastise  the  evil-doers  and  the  perse- 
cutors of  Godly  men.  I  discover  and  confound  the 
liars.  I  am  the  all  -  seeing  Avenger,  .  .  .  the 
Guardian  of  my  laws  in  the  land  of  the  righteous.* 
These  words  are  found  mingled  in  the  text,  from 
which  I  extract  them,  with  allusions  to  inferior 
deities  ;  and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  trans- 
lation of  the  ancient  documents  of  Egypt  is  uncer- 
tain enough ;  still  this  uncertainty  does  not  appear 
to  extend  to  the  general  sense  and  bearing  of  the  re- 
cent discoveries  of  our  savans."  * 

Professor  Flint  as  against  Cudworth,  Ebrard,  Glad- 
*  Mo^rn  Atheism,  p.  13. 


252     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

stone,  and  others,  maintains  that  the  Egyptian  relig- 
ion at  the  very  dawn  of  its  history  had  "  certain  great 
gods,"  though  he  adds  that  "  there  were  not  so  many 
as  in  later  times."  "  Ancestor  worship,  but  not  so 
developed  as  in  later  times,  and  animal  worship,  but 
very  little  of  it  compared  with  later  times."  On  the 
other  hand,  as  against  Professor  Tiele,  Miss  Amelia  B. 
Edwards,  and  others,  he  says :  "  For  the  opinion  that 
its  lower  elements  were  older  than  the  higher  there 
is  not  a  particle  of  properly  historical  evidence,  not 
a  trace  in  the  inscriptions  of  mere  propitiation  of  an- 
cestors or  of  belief  in  the  absolute  divinity  of  kings  or 
animals ;  on  the  contrary  ancestors  are  always  found 
propitiated  through  prayer  to  some  of  the  great  gods  ; 
kings  worshipped  as  emanations  and  images  of  the 
sun  god  and  the  divine  animals  adored  as  divine 
symbols  and  incarnations." 

Among  the  Greeks  there  are  few  traces  of  mono- 
theism, but  we  have  reason  for  this  in  the  fact  that 
their  earliest  literature  dates  from  so  late  a  period. 
It  began  with  Homer  not  earlier  than  600  B.C.,  and 
direct  accounts  of  the  religion  of  the  Greeks  are  not 
traced  beyond  560  B.C.  But  Welcker,  whose  exami- 
nations have  been  exhaustive,  has,  in  the  opinion  of 
Max  Miiller,  fairly  established  the  primitive  mono- 
theism of  the  Greeks.  Miiller  says  :  "  When  we  as- 
cend with  him  to  the  most  distant  heights  of  Greek 
history  the  idea  of  God  as  the  supreme  being  stands 
before  us  as  a  simple  fact.  Next  to  this  adoration 
of  One  God  the  father  of  men  we  find  in  Greece  a 
worship  of  nature.  The  powers  of  nature,  originally 
worshipped  as  such,  were  afterward  changed  into  a 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    253 

family  of  gods,  of  which  Zeus  became  the  king  and 
father.  The  third  phase  is  what  is  generally  called 
Greek  mythology ;  but  it  was  preceded  in  time,  or  at 
least  rendered  possible  in  thought,  by  the  two  prior 
conceptions,  a  belief  in  a  supreme  God  and  a  worship 
of  the  powers  of  nature.  .  .  .  The  divine  charac- 
ter of  Zeus,  as  distinguished  from  his  mythological 
character,  is  most  carefully  brought  out  by  Welcker. 
He  avails  himself  of  all  the  discoveries  of  compara- 
tive philology  in  order  to  show  more  clearly  how  the 
same  idea  which  found  expression  in  the  ancient  re- 
ligions of  the  Brahmans,  the  Sclavs,  and  the  Germans 
had  been  preserved  under  the  same  simple,  clear,  and 
sublime  name  by  the  original  settlers  of  Hellas."  * 

The  same  high  authority  traces  in  his  own  linguis- 
tic studies  the  important  fact  that  all  branches  of 
the  Aryan  race  preserve  the  same  name  for  the 
Supreme  Being,  while  they  show  great  ramification 
and  variation  in  the  names  of  their  subordinate  gods. 
If,  therefore,  the  Indo- Aryans  give  evidence  of  a 
monotheistic  faith  at  the  time  of  their  dispersion, 
there  is  an  a  priori  presumption  for  the  monotheism 
of  the  Greeks.  "  Herodotus,"  says  Professor  Raw- 
linson,  "  speaks  of  God  as  if  he  had  never  heard  of 
polytheism."  The  testimony  of  the  Greek  poets 
shows  that  beneath  the  prevailing  polytheism  there 
remained  an  underlying  conception  of  monotheistic 
supremacy.  Professor  Rawlinson  quotes  from  an 
Orphic  poem  the  words  : 

*' Ares  is  war,  peace 
Soft  Aphrodite,  wine  that  God  has  made 

*  Chips  from  a  Oerman  Workshop^  vol.  ii. ,  pp.  146,  147. 


254    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Is  Dionysius,  Themis  is  the  right 

Men  render  to  each.     Apollo,  too, 

And  Phoebus  and  ^schlepius,  who  doth  heal 

Diseases,  are  the  sun.    All  these  are  one." 

Max  Miiller  traces  to  this  same  element  of  mono- 
theism the  real  greatness  and  power  of  the  Hellenic 
race  when  he  says:  "What  was  it,  then,  that  pre- 
served in  their  hearts  (the  Greeks),  in  spite  even  of 
the  feuds  of  tribes  and  the  jealousies  of  states,  the 
deep  feeling  of  that  ideal  unity  which  constitutes  a 
people  ?  It  was  their  primitive  religion ;  it  was  a 
dim  recollection  of  the  common  allegiance  they  owed 
from  time  immemorial  to  the  great  father  of  gods 
and  men ;  it  was  their  belief  in  the  old  Zeus  of  Do- 
dona  in  the  Pan-Hellenic  Zeus."*  "  There  is,  in 
truth,  but  one,"  says  Sophocles,  "  one  only  God, 
who  made  both  heaven  and  long-extended  earth 
and  bright-faced  swell  of  seas  and  force  of  winds." 
Xenophanes  says :  "  'Mongst  gods  and  men  there 
is  one  mightiest  God  not  mortal  or  in  form  or 
thought.  Entire  he  sees  and  understands,  and  with- 
out labor  governs  all  by  mind."  Aratus,  whom  Paul 
quotes,!  says  :  "  With  Zeus  began  we ;  let  no  mortal 
voice  of  men  leave  Zeus  unpraised.  Zeus  fills  the 
heavens,  the  streets,  the  marts.  Everywhere  we  live 
in  Zeus.  Zeus  fills  the  sea,  the  shores,  the  harbors. 
We  are  Ms  offspring,  too.""  The  reference  made  by 
Paul  evidently  implies  that  this  Zeus  was  a  dim  con- 
ception of  the  one  true  God. 

That  all  branches  of  the  Semitic  race  were  mono- 

•  Science  of  Religion,  Lecture  III.,  p.  57. 
f  Acts  xvii.  28. 


TBAOES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    255 

theistic  we  may  call  not  only  Ebrard  and  Miiller,  but 
Renan,  to  witness.  According  to  Benan,  evidences 
that  the  monotheism  of  the  Semitic  races  was  of  a 
very  early  origin,  appears  in  the  fact  that  all  their 
names  for  deity — El,  Elohim,  Ilu,  Baal,  Bel,  Adonai, 
Shaddai,  and  Allah — denote  one  being  and  that  su- 
preme. These  names  have  resisted  all  changes,  and 
doubtless  extend  as  far  back  as  the  Semitic  language 
or  the  Semitic  race.  Max  Miiller,  in  speaking  of  the 
early  faith  of  the  Arabs,  says  :  "  Long  before  Mo- 
hammed the  primitive  intuition  of  God  made  itself 
felt  in  Arabia ; "  and  he  quotes  this  ancient  Arabian 
prayer  :  "  I  dedicate  myself  to  thy  service,  O  Allah. 
Thou  hast  no  companion,  except  the  companion  of 
whom  thou  art  master  absolute,  and  of  whatever  is 
his."  The  book  of  Job  and  the  story  of  Balaam  indi- 
cate the  prevalence  of  an  early  monotheism  beyond 
the  pale  of  the  Abrahamic  church.  In  the  records 
of  the  kings  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia  there  is  a 
conspicuous  polytheism,  yet  it  is  significant  that 
each  king  worshipped  one  God  only.  And  this  fact 
suggests,  as  a  wide  generalization,  that  political  and 
dynastic  jealousies  had  their  influence  in  multiply- 
ing the  names  and  differentiating  the  attributes  of 
ancient  deities.  This  was  notably  the  case  in  an- 
cient Egypt,  where  each  invasion  and  each  change  of 
dynasty  led  to  a  new  adjustment  of  the  Egyptian 
Pantheon. 

Rome  had  many  gods,  but  Jupiter  was  supreme. 
Herodotus  says  of  the  Scythians,  that  they  had  eight 
gods,  but  one  was  supreme,  like  Zeus.  The  North- 
men, according  to  Dr.  Dascent,  had  one  supreme 


256     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

god  known  as  the  "  All-fader."  The  Druids,  though 
worshipping  various  subordinate  deities,  believed  in 
One  who  was  supreme — the  creator  of  all  things  and 
the  soul  of  all  things.  Though  conceived  of  in  a 
Pantheistic  sense,  He  was  personal  and  exerted  a 
moral  control,  as  is  shown  by  the  famous  triad : 
"  Fear  God  ;  be  just  to  all  men ;  die  for  your  coun- 
try." In  the  highest  and  purest  period  of  the  old 
Mexican  faith  we  read  of  the  Tezcucan  monarch  Ne- 
zahualcoyotl,  who  said  :  "  These  idols  of  wood  and 
stone  can  neither  hear  nor  feel ;  much  less  could 
they  make  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  man  who 
is  the  lord  of  it.  These  must  be  the  work  of  the 
all-powerful  unknown  God,  the  Creator  of  the  uni- 
verse, on  whom  alone  I  must  rely  for  consolation  and 
support."  *  The  Incas  of  Peru  also,  though  sun- 
worshippers,  believed  in  a  supreme  creator  who  made 
the  sun.  The  oldest  of  their  temples  was  reared  to 
the  supreme  god  "  Yirachoca."  And  one  of  the  great- 
est Incas  has  left  his  declared  belief  that  "  there 
must  be  above  the  sun  a  greater  and  more  powerful 
ruler,  at  whose  behest  the  sun  pursues  his  daily  and 
untiring  round."  f 

It  has  been  assumed  throughout  this  lecture,  that 
instead  of  an  advance  in  the  religions  of  men,  there 
has  everywhere  been  decline.  Our  proofs  of  this  are 
not  theoretic  but  historic.  As  an  example,  all  writers 
are  agreed,  I  believe,  that  during  the  historic  period 

*  Prescott's  Conquest  of  Mexico. 

f  Reville  in  his  Hibbert  Ijcctures  on  Mexican  and  Pernvian  re- 
ligions asserts  that  polytheism  existed  from  the  beginning,  but 
oar  contention  is  that  One  God  was  supreme  and  created  the  son. 


TBAGE8  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    257 

the  religion  of  the  Egyptians  steadily  deteriorated 
until  Christianity  and  Mohammedanism  superseded 
it.  In  strong  contrast  with  the  lofty  and  ennobling 
prayer  which  we  have  quoted  from  an  ancient  Egyp- 
tian record,  is  the  degradation  of  the  later  worship. 
On  a  colunm  at  Heliopolis,  belonging  to  the  fourth 
century  before  Christ,  is  inscribed  this  petition  :  "  O 
thou  white  cat,  thy  head  is  the  head  of  the  sun  god, 
thy  nose  is  the  nose  of  Thoth,  of  the  exceeding  great 
love  of  Hemopolis."  The  whole  prayer  is  on  this 
low  level.  Clement,  of  Alexandria,  after  describing 
the  great  beauty  of  an  Egyptian  temple,  proceeds 
to  say  :  "  The  innermost  sanctuary  is  concealed  by  a 
curtain  wrought  in  gold,  which  the  priest  draws  aside, 
and  there  is  seen  a  cat,  or  a  crocodile,  or  a  serpent, 
which  wriggles  on  a  purple  cover."  * 

That  the  religions  of  India  have  degenerated  is 
equally  clear.  The  fact  that  all  the  medieval  and 
modern  reforms  look  back  for  their  ideals  to  the 
earlier  and  purer  Aryan  faith,  might  of  itself  afford 
sufficient  proof  of  this,  but  we  have  also  abundant 
evidence  which  is  direct.  In  the  Big  Veda  there  is  lit- 
tle polytheism,  and  no  idolatry.  There  is  no  doctrine 
of  caste,  no  base  worship  of  Siva  with  the  foul  enor- 
mities of  Saktism.f  In  the  most  ancient  times  there 
was  no  doctrine  of  transmigration,  nor  any  notion 
that  human  life  is  an  evil  to  be  overcome  by  self- 
mortification.  Woman  was  comparatively  free  from 
the  oppressions  which  she  suffered  in  the  later  peri- 

*  De  Pressense  :  TTie  Ancient  World  and  Christianity. 
f  Bournouf  found  the  Tantras  so  obscene  that  he  refused  to 
translate  them. 
17 


268     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ods.  Infanticide  had  not  then  been  sanctioned  and 
enjoined  by  religious  authority,  and  widow  burning 
and  the  religious  murders  of  the  Thugs  were  un- 
known. And  yet  so  deeply  were  these  evils  rooted 
at  the  beginning  of  the  British  rule  in  India,  that  the 
joint  influence  of  Christian  instruction  and  Govern- 
mental authority  for  a  whole  century  has  not  been 
sufficient  to  overcome  them. 

Buddhism  in  the  first  two  or  three  centuries  had 
much  to  commend  it.  King  Ashoka  left  monuments 
of  practical  beneficence  and  philanthropy  which  have 
survived  to  this  day.  But  countless  legends  soon 
sprang  up  to  mar  the  simplicity  of  Gautama's  ethics. 
Corruptions  crept  in.  Compromises  were  made  with 
popular  superstitions  and  with  Hindu  Saktism."^  The 
monastic  orders  sank  into  corruption,  and  by  the 
ninth  century  of  our  era  the  system  had  been  wholly 
swept  from  India.  The  Buddhism  of  Ceylon  was 
planted  first  by  the  devout  son  and  daughter  of  a 
king,  and  for  a  time  was  characterized  by  great  purity 
and  devotion.  But  now  it  exists  only  in  name,  and 
a  prominent  missionary  of  the  country  declared,  in 
the  London  Missionary  Conference  of  1888,  that 
nine-tenths  of  the  Cingalese  were  worshippers  of 
serpents  or  of  spirits,  f  The  prevailing  Buddhism  in 
Thibet,  from  the  eighth  to  the  tenth  century,  was  an 
admixture  with  Saktism  and  superstition.  Where 
the  system  has  survived  in  any  good  degree  of 
strength,  it  has  been  due  either  to  government  sup- 
port or  to  an  alliance  with  other  religions.     The  his- 

*  T.  Rhys  Davids  :  Buddhism,  p.  208. 

^  Report  of  Missionary  Conference,  vol.  i.,  p.  70. 


TBAGM  OP  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    259 

tory  of  Taouism  has  shown  a  still  worse  deteriora- 
tion. Laotze,  though  impracticable  as  a  reformer, 
was  a  profound  philosopher.  His  teachings  set 
forth  a  lofty  moral  code.  Superstition  he  abomin- 
ated. His  ideas  of  deity  were  cold  and  rational- 
istic, but  they  were  pure  and  lofty.  But  the  mod- 
em Taouism  is  a  medley  of  wild  and  degrading 
superstitions.  According  to  its  theodicy  all  nature 
is  haunted.  The  ignorant  masses  are  enthralled  by 
the  fear  of  ghosts,  and  all  progress  is  paralyzed  by 
the  nightmare  of  "  fung  shuay."  Had  not  Taouism 
been  balanced  by  the  sturdy  common-sense  ethics 
of  Confucianism,  the  Chinese  might  have  become  a 
race  of  savages.* 

The  decline  of  Mohammedanism  from  the  sublime 
fanaticism  of  Abu  Bekr  and  the  intellectual  aspira- 
tions of  Haroun  Al  Baschid,  to  the  senseless  imbe- 
cility of  the  modem  Turk,  is  too  patent  to  need  argu- 
ment. The  worm  of  destruction  was  left  in  the 
system  by  the  vices  of  Mohammed  himself;  and 
from  the  higher  level  of  his  early  followers  it  has 
not  only  deteriorated,  but  it  has  dragged  down  every- 
thing else  with  it.  It  has  destroyed  the  family,  be- 
cause it  has  degraded  woman.  It  has  separated  her 
immeasurably  from  the  status  of  dignity  and  honor 
which  she  enjoyed  under  the  influence  of  the  early 
Christian  church,  and  it  has  robbed  her  of  even  that 
freedom  which  was  accorded  to  her  by  heathen 
Rome.  One  need  only  look  at  Northern  Africa, 
the  land  of  Cyprian  and  Origen,  of  Augustine  and 
the  saintly  Monica,  to  see  what  Islam  has  done. 
*  Buddhism,  in  the  Britannica. 


260     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

And  even  the  later  centuries  have  brought  no  relief. 
Prosperous  lands  have  been  rendered  desolate  and 
sterile,  and  all  progress  has  been  paralyzed. 

In  the  history  of  the  Greek  religion  it  is  granted 
that  there  were  periods  of  advancement.  The  times 
of  the  fully  developed  Apollo  worship  showed  vast 
improvement  over  previous  periods,  but  even  Profes- 
sor Tiele  virtually  admits  that  this  was  owing  to  the 
importation  of  foreign  influences.  It  was  not  due  to 
any  natural  process  of  evolution ;  and  it  was  followed 
by  hopeless  corruption  and  decline.  The  last  days  of 
both  Greece  and  Eome  were  degenerate  and  full  of 
depression  and  despair. 

It  is  not  contended  that  no  revivals  or  reforms  are 
possible  in  heathenism.  There  have  been  many  of 
these,  but  with  all  allowance  for  spasmodic  efforts,  the 
general  drift  has  been  always  downward.*  There  is 
a  natural  disposition  among  men  to  multiply  objects 

*  Rev.  S.  G.  Wright,  long  a  missionary  among  the  American 
Indians,  says  :  **  During  the  forty-six  years  in  which  I  have  been 
laboring  among  the  Ojibway  Indians,  I  have  been  more  and  more 
impressed  with  the  evidence,  showing  itself  in  their  language, 
that  at  some  former  time  they  have  been  in  possession  of  much 
higher  ideas  of  God's  attributes,  and  of  what  constitutes  true  hap- 
piness, immortality,  and  virtue,  as  well  as  of  the  nature  of  the 
Devil  and  his  influence  in  the  world,  than  those  which  they  now 
possess.  The  thing  which  early  in  our  experience  surprised  us, 
and  which  has  not  ceased  to  impress  us,  is,  that,  with  their  pres- 
ent low  conceptions  of  spiritual  things,  they  could  have  chosen 
so  lofty  and  spiritual  a  word  for  the  Deity.  The  only  satisfactory 
explanation  seems  to  be  that,  at  an  early  period  of  their  history, 
they  had  higher  and  more  correct  ideas  concerning  God  than 
those  which  they  now  possess,  and  that  these  have  become,  as  the 
geologists  would  sslj  ,  fossilized  in  their  forms  of  speech,  and  80 
preserved." — Biblioiheca  Sacra,  October,  1889. 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    261 

of  worship.  Herbert  Spencer's  principle,  that  de- 
velopment proceeds  from  the  homogeneous  to  the 
heterogeneous,  is  certainly  true  of  the  religions  of 
the  world  ;  but  his  other  principle,  that  development 
proceeds  from  the  incoherent  to  the  coherent,  does 
not  apply.  Incoherency  and  moral  chaos  mark  the 
trend  of  all  man-made  faiths.  The  imiversal  ten- 
dency to  deterioration  is  well  summed  up  as  follows 
by  Professor  Naville : 

"  Traces  are  found  almost  everywhere  in  the  midst 
of  idolatrous  superstitions,  of  a  religion  comparatively 
pure  and  often  stamped  with  a  lofty  morality.  Pa- 
ganism is  not  a  simple  fact ;  it  offers  to  view  in  the 
same  bed  two  currents  (like  the  Arve  and  the  Arvei- 
ron) — the  one  pure,  the  other  impure.  What  is  the 
relation  between  these  two  currents  ?  .  .  .  Did 
humanity  begin  with  a  coarse  fetishism,  and  thence 
rise  by  slow  degrees  to  higher  conceptions  ?  Do  the 
traces  of  a  comparatively  pure  monotheism  first  show 
themselves  in  the  recent  periods  of  idolatry  ?  Con- 
temporary science  inclines  more  and  more  to  answer 
in  the  negative.  It  is  in  the  most  ancient  historical 
ground  that  the  laborious  investigators  of  the  past 
meet  with  the  most  elevated  ideas  of  religion.  Cut 
to  the  ground  a  young  and  vigorous  beech-tree,  and 
come  back  a  few  years  afterward.  In  place  of  the 
tree  cut  down  you  will  find  coppice- wood ;  the  sap 
which  nourished  a  single  trunk  has  been  divided 
among  a  multitude  of  shoots.  This  comparison  ex- 
presses well  enough  the  opinion  which  tends  to  pre- 
vail among  our  savants  on  the  subject  of  the  histori- 
cal development  of  religions.     The  idea  of  one  God 


262     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

is  at  the  roots — it  is  primitive ;  polytheism  is  deriva- 
tive." ^ 

We  have  thus  far  drawn  our  proofs  of  man's  poly- 
theistic tendencies  from  the  history  of  the  non- 
Christian  religions.  In  proof  of  the  same  general 
tendency  we  now  turn  to  the  history  of  the  Israelites, 
the  chosen  people  of  God.  We  may  properly  appeal 
to  the  Bible  as  history,  especially  when  showing 
idolatrous  tendencies  even  under  the  full  blaze  of  the 
truth.  In  spite  of  the  supernatural  revelation  which 
they  claimed  to  possess — notwithstanding  all  their 
instructions,  warnings,  promises,  deliverances,  divine- 
ly aided  conquests — they  relapsed  into  idolatry  again 
and  again.  Ere  they  had  reached  the  land  of  prom- 
ise they  had  begun  to  make  images  of  the  gods  of 
Egypt.  They  made  constant  compromises  and  alli- 
ances with  the  Canaanites,  and  not  even  severe 
judgments  could  withhold  them  from  this  downward 
drift.  Their  wisest  king  was  demoralized  by  heathen 
marriages,  and  his  successors  openly  patronized  the 
heathen  shrines.  The  abominations  of  Baal  wor- 
ship and  the  nameless  vices  of  Sodom  were  practised 
under  the  very  shadow  of  the  Temple,  f  Judgments 
followed  upon  this  miserable  degeneracy.  Prophets 
were  sent  with  repeated  warnings,  and  many  were 
slain  for  their  faithful  messages.  Tribe  after  tribe 
was  borne  into  captivity,  the  Temple  was  destroyed, 
and  at  last  the  nation  was  virtually  broken  up  and 
scattered  abroad. 

There  was  indeed  a  true   development    in  the 

*  Modern  AtJieism,  p.  10. 

f  L  Kings,  xiv. ,  and  11.  Kings,  xxiii. 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    263 

church  of  God  from  the  Abrahamic  period  to  the 
Apostolic  day.  There  was  a  rising  from  a  narrow 
national  spirit  to  one  which  embraced  the  whole 
brotherhood  of  man,  from  type  and  prophecy  to  ful- 
filment, from  the  sins  that  were  winked  at,  to  a  purer 
ethic  and  the  perfect  law  of  love ;  but  these  results 
came  not  by  natural  evolution — far  enough  from  it. 
They  were  wrought  out  not  by  man,  but  we  might 
almost  say,  in  spite  of  man.  Divine  interpositions 
were  all  that  saved  Judaism  from  a  total  wreck,  even 
as  the  national  unity  was  destroyed.  A  new  Dispen- 
sation was  introduced,  a  Divine  Bedeemer  and  an 
Omnipotent  Spirit  were  the  forces  which  saved  the 
world  from  a  second  universal  apostasy. 

We  come  nearer  still  to  the  church  of  God  for 
proofs  of  man's  inherent  tendency  to  polytheism. 
Even  under  the  new  Dispensation  we  have  seen  the 
church  sink  into  virtual  idolatry.  Within  six  cen- 
turies from  the  time  of  Christ  and  His  apostles  there 
had  been  a  sad  lapse  into  what  seemed  the  worship 
of  images,  pictures,  and  relics,  and  a  faith  in  holy 
places  and  the  bones  of  saints.  What  Mohammed 
saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  was  a  Christian  idolatry 
scarcely  better  than  that  of  the  Arabian  Koreish. 
And,  as  if  by  the  judgment  of  God,  the  churches  of 
the  East  were  swept  with  a  destruction  like  that 
which  had  been  visited  upon  the  Ten  Tribes.  In 
the  Christianity  of  to-day,  viewed  as  a  whole,  how 
strong  is  the  tendency  to  turn  from  the  pure  spirit- 
ual conception  of  God  to  some  more  objective  trust — 
a  saint,  a  relic,  a  ritual,  an  ordinance.  In  the  old 
churches  of  the  East  or  on  the  Continent  of  Europe, 


264     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRI8TIANITT 

how  much  of  virtual  idolatry  is  there  even  now  ?  It 
is  only  another  form  of  the  tendency  in  man  to  seek 
out  many  devices — to  find  visible  objects  of  trust — 
to  try  new  panaceas  for  the  ailments  of  the  soul — to 
multiply  unto  himseK  gods  to  help  his  weakness. 
This  is  just  what  has  been  done  in  all  ages  and 
among  all  races  of  the  world.  This  explains  poly- 
theism. Man's  religious  nature  is  a  vine,  and  God 
is  its  only  proper  support.  Once  fallen  from  that 
support,  it  creeps  and  grovels  in  all  directions  and 
over  all  false  supports. 

We  have  not  resorted  to  Divine  revelation  for 
proofs  except  as  history.  But  our  conclusions 
drawn  from  heathen  sources  bring  us  directly,  as 
one  face  answereth  to  another  face  in  a  glass,  to  the 
plain  teachings  of  Paul  and  other  inspired  writers, 
who  tell  us  that  the  human  race  was  once  possessed 
of  the  knowledge  of  One  Supreme  God,  but  that 
men  apostatized  from  Him,  preferring  to  worship 
the  creature  rather  than  the  Creator.  There  are  no 
traces  of  an  upward  evolution  toward  clearer  knowl- 
edge and  purer  lives,  except  by  the  operation  of  out- 
ward causes,  but  there  are  many  proofs  that  men's 
hearts  have  become  darkened  and  their  moral  nature 
more  and  more  depraved.  In  all  lands  there  have 
been  those  who  seemed  to  gain  some  glimpses  of 
truth,  and  whose  teachings  were  far  above  the  aver- 
age sentiment  and  character  of  their  times,  but  they 
have  either  been  discarded  like  Socrates  and  the 
prophets  of  Israel,  or  they  have  obtained  a  following 
only  for  a  time  and  their  precepts  have  fallen  into 
neglect.    It  has  been  well  said  that  no  race  of  men 


TRACES  OF  A  PRIMITIVE  MONOTHEISM    265 

live  up  to  their  religion,  however  imperfect  it  may 
be.  They  first  disregard  it,  and  then  at  length  de- 
grade it,  to  suit  their  apostate  character. 

Paul's  estimate  of  heathen  character  was  that  of  a 
man  who,  aside  from  his  direct  inspiration,  spoke 
from  a  wide  range  of  observation.  He  was  a  philos- 
opher by  education,  and  he  lived  in  an  age  and  amid 
national  surroundings  which  afforded  the  broadest 
knowledge  of  men,  of  customs,  of  religious  faiths, 
of  institutions.  Trained  as  a  Jew,  dealing  constantly 
with  the  most  enlightened  heathen,  persecuting  the 
Christians,  and  then  espousing  their  cause,  his  prep- 
aration for  a  broad,  calm,  and  unerring  judgment  of 
the  character  of  the  Gentile  nations  was  complete ; 
and  his  one  emphatic  verdict  was  apostasy. 


LECTUEE  Vm. 

INDIRECT   TRIBUTES   OF   HEATHEN   SYSTEMS  TO    THE 
DOCTRINES  OF  THE  BIBLE 

I  AM  to  speak  of  certain  indirect  tributes  borne 
by  the  non-Christian  religions  to  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  One  such  tribute  of  great  value  we 
have  already  considered  in  the  prevalence  of  early 
monotheism,  so  far  corroborating  the  scriptural  ac- 
count of  man's  first  estate,  and  affording  many  proofs 
which  corroborate  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  human 
apostasy.  Others  of  the  same  general  bearing  will 
now  be  considered.  The  history  of  man's  origin,  the 
strange  traditions  of  his  fall  by  transgression  and  his 
banishment  from  Eden,  of  the  conflict  of  good  with 
evil  represented  by  a  serpent,  of  the  Deluge  and  the 
dispersion  of  the  human  race,  have  all  been  the  sub- 
jects of  ridicule  by  anti-Christian  writers  : — though 
by  turns  they  have  recognized  these  same  facts  and 
have  used  them  as  proofs  that  Christianity  had  bor- 
rowed them  from  old  myths.  The  idea  of  sacri- 
fice, or  atonement,  of  Divine  incarnation,  of  a  trinity, 
of  mediation,  of  a  salvation  by  faith  instead  of  one's 
own  merits,  have  been  represented  as  unphilosophi- 
cal,  and  therefore  improbable  in  the  nature  of  the 
case. 

It    becomes    an    important    question,   therefore, 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    267 

whether  other  religions  of  mankind  show  similar 
traditions,  however  widely  they  have  dwelt  apart, 
and  however  diversified  their  languages,  literatures, 
and  institutions  may  have  been  in  other  respects. 
And  it  is  also  an  important  question,  whether  even 
under  heathen  systems,  the  consciousness  of  sin  and 
the  deepest  moral  yearnings  of  men  have  found  ex- 
pression along  the  very  lines  which  are  represented 
by  the  Christian  doctrines  of  grace.  To  these 
questions  we  now  address  ourselves.  What  are  the 
lessons  of  the  various  ethnic  traditions  ?  And  how 
are  we  to  account  for  their  striking  similarities? 
The  most  obvious  theory  is,  that  a  common  origin 
must  be  assigned  to  them,  that  they  are  dim  reminis- 
cences of  a  real  knowledge  once  clear  and  distinct. 
The  fact  that  with  their  essential  unity  they  differ 
from  each  other  and  differ  from  our  Scriptural 
record,  seems  to  rather  strengthen  the  theory  that 
all — our  own  included — have  been  handed  down  from 
the  pre-Mosaic  times — ours  being  divinely  edited  by 
an  inspired  and  infallible  author.  Their  differences 
are  such  as  might  have  been  expected  from  separate 
transmissions,  independently  made. 

We  have,  first  of  all,  the  various  traditions  of  the 
Creation.  In  most  heathen  races  there  have  appeared, 
in  their  later  stages,  grave  and  grotesque  cosmogo- 
nies ;  and  a  too  common  impression  is,  that  these 
represent  the  real  teachings  of  their  sacred  books  or 
their  earliest  traditions.  But  when  one  enters  upon 
a  careful  study  of  the  non-Christian  religions,  and 
traces  them  back  to  their  sources,  he  finds  more  ra- 
tional accounts  of  the  Creation  and  the  order  of  nat- 


268     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ure,  and  sees  striking  points  of  resemblance  to  the 
Mosaic  record.  The  story  of  Genesis  represents  the 
"  Beginning  "  as  formless,  chaotic,  and  dark.  The 
Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 
The  heavens  and  the  earth  were  separated.  Light 
appeared  long  before  the  sun  and  moon  were  visible, 
and  the  day  and  night  were  clearly  defined.  Crea- 
tion proceeded  in  a  certain  order  from  vegetable  to 
animal  life,  and  from  lower  animals  to  higher,  and 
last  of  all  man  appeared.  In  heathen  systems  we 
find  fragments  of  this  traditional  account,  and,  as  a 
rule,  they  are  more  or  less  clear  in  proportion  to 
their  nearness  to,  or  departure  from,  the  great  cra- 
dle of  the  human  race.*  Thus  Professor  Eawlinson 
quotes  from  an  Assyrian  account  of  the  creation,  as 
found  upon  the  clay  tablets  discovered  in  the  pal- 
ace of  Assur-bani-pal,  a  description  of  formlessness, 
emptiness,  and  darkness  on  the  deep — of  a  separa- 
tion between  the  earth  and  sky — and  of  the  light  as 
preceding  the  appearance  of  the  sim.  That  account 
also  places  the  creation  of  animals  before  that  of 
man,  whom  it  represents  as  being  formed  of  the 
dust  of  the  earth,  and  as  receiving  a  divine  effluence 
from  the  Creator,  f  According  to  an  Etruscan  saga 
quoted  by  Suidas,  God  created  the  world  in  six 
periods  of  1,000  years  each.  In  the  first,  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth ;  in  the  second,  the  firmament ;  in 
the  third,  the  seas;  in  the  fourth,  the  sun,  moon, 

*  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  both  the  Pentateuch  and  most  heathen 
traditions  agree,  as  to  the  order  or  stages  of  creation,  with  the  geo- 
logical record  of  modern  science. 

f  Bawlinson  :  Ancient  Monarchies. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    269 

and  stars ;  in  the  fifth,  the  beasts  of  the  land,  the 
air,  and  the  sea ;  in  the  sixth,  man.  According  to  a 
passage  in  the  Persian  Avesta,  the  supreme  Ormazd 
created  the  visible  world  by  his  word  in  six  periods 
or  thousands  of  years :  in  the  first,  the  heavens  with 
the  stars ;  in  the  second,  the  water  and  the  clouds  ; 
in  the  third,  the  earth  and  the  mountains ;  in  the 
fourth,  the  trees  and  the  plants ;  in  the  fifth,  the 
beasts  which  sprang  from  the  primeval  beast ;  in  the 
sixth,  man.* 

As  we  get  farther  away  from  the  supposed  early 
home  of  the  race,  the  traditions  become  more  frag- 
mentary and  indistinct.  The  Rig  Veda,  Mandala, 
X.,  129,  tells  us  that : 

*•'  In  the  beginning  there  was  neither  naught  nor  aught ; 
There  was  neither  day  nor  night  nor  light  nor  darkness ; 
Only  the  EXISTENT  ONE  breathed  calmly. 
Next  came  darkness,  gloom  on  gloom. 
Next  all  was  water — chaos  indiscrete."  f 

Strikingly  similar  is  the  language  quoted  in  a 
former  lecture  from  the  prayer  of  a  Chinese  empe- 
ror of  the  Ming  Dynasty.  It  runs  thus  :  "  Of  old, 
in  the  beginning,  there  was  the  great  chaos  without 
form  and  dark.  The  five  elements  had  not  begun  to 
revolve,  nor  the  sun  and  moon  to  shine.  In  the 
midst  thereof  there  presented  itself  neither  form  nor 
sound.  Thou,  O  Spiritual  Sovereign,  didst  divide 
the  grosser  parts  from  the  purer.  Thou  madest 
heaven  :  Thou  madest  earth  :  Thou  madest  man." 

*  Ebrard  :  Apologetics,  vol.  11. 

f  Williams :  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  22. 


270     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

There  is  a  possibility  that  these  conceptions  may 
have  come  from  Christian  sources  instead  of  primi- 
tive Chinese  traditions,  possibly  from  early  Nestorian 
missionaries,  though  this  is  scarcely  probable,  as 
Chinese  emperors  have  been  slow  to  introduce  for- 
eign conceptions  into  their  august  temple  service  to 
Shangte  ;  its  chief  glory  lies  in  its  antiquity  and  its 
purely  national  character.  Buddhism  had  already 
been  in  China  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  these 
prayers  are  far  enough  from  its  teachings.  May  we 
not  believe  that  the  ideas  here  expressed  had  always 
existed  in  the  minds  of  the  more  devout  rulers  of 
the  empire  ?  In  similar  language,  the  Edda  of  the 
Icelandic  Northmen  describes  the  primeval  chaos. 

Thus: 

**  'Twas  the  morning  of  time 
When  yet  naught  was, 
Nor  sand  nor  sea  was  there. 
Nor  cooling  streams. 
Earth  was  not  formed 
Nor  heaven  above. 
A  yawning  gap  was  there 
And  grass  nowhere.'* 

Not  unlike  these  conceptions  of  the  "  Beginning  " 
is  that  which  Morenhout  found  in  a  song  of  the  Ta- 
hitans,  and  which  ran  thus  : 

"  He  was  ;  Toaroa  was  his  name, 
He  existed  in  space ;  no  earth,  no  heaven,  no  men." 

M.  Goussin  adds  the  further  translation  :  "  Toaroa, 
the  Great  Orderer,  is  the  origin  of  the  earth :  he  has 
no  father,  no  posterity."  *     The  tradition  of  the  Od- 
*  De  Quatref  ages  :   The  Human  Species^  p.  490. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    271 

shis,  a  negro  tribe  on  the  African  Gold  Coast,  repre- 
sents the  creation  as  having  been  completed  in  six 
days.  God  created  first  the  woman  ;  then  the  man ; 
then  the  animals ;  then  the  trees  and  plants ;  and 
lastly  the  rocks.  God  created  nothing  on  the  seventh 
day.  He  only  gave  men  His  commandments.  The 
reversal  of  the  order  here  only  confirms  the  suppo- 
sition that  it  is  an  original  tradition.  We  find  every- 
where on  the  Western  Hemisphere,  north  and  south, 
plain  recognition  of  the  creation  of  the  world  by  one 
Supreme  God,  though  the  order  is  not  given.  How 
shall  we  account  for  the  similarities  above  indicated, 
except  on  the  supposition  of  a  common  and  a  very 
ancient  source  ? 

Still  more  striking  are  the  various  traditions  of 
the  Fall  of  man  by  sin.  In  the  British  Museum 
there  is  a  very  old  Babylonian  seal  which  bears  the 
figures  of  a  man  and  a  woman  stretching  out  their 
hands  toward  a  fruit-tree,  while  behind  the  woman 
lurks  a  serpent.  A  fragment  bearing  an  inscription 
represents  a  tree  of  life  as  guarded  on  all  sides  by  a 
sword.  Another  inscription  describes  a  delectable 
region  surrounded  by  four  rivers.  Professors  Kaw- 
linson  and  Delitzsch  both  regard  this  as  a  reference 
to  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

"  The  Hindu  legends,"  says  Hardwick,  "  are 
agreed  in  representing  man  as  one  of  the  last  prod- 
ucts of  creative  wisdom,  as  the  master- work  of  God  ; 
and  also  in  extolling  the  first  race  of  men  as  pure 
and  upright,  innocent  and  happy.  The  beings  who 
were  thus  created  by  Brahma  are  all  said  to  have 
been  endowed  with  righteousness  and  perfect  faith  ; 


272    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

they  abode  wherever  they  pleased,  unchecked  by 
any  impediment ;  their  hearts  were  free  from  guile  ; 
they  were  pure,  made  free  from  toil  by  observance 
of  sacred  institutes.  In  their  sanctified  minds 
Hari  dwelt ;  and  they  were  filled  with  perfect  wis- 
dom by  which  they  contemplated  the  glory  of 
Vishnu. 

"  The  first  men  were,  accordingly,  the  best.  The 
Krita  age,  the  '  age  of  truth,'  the  reign  of  purity,  in 
which  mankind,  as  it  came  forth  from  the  Creator, 
was  not  divided  into  numerous  conflicting  orders, 
and  in  which  the  different  faculties  of  man  all 
worked  harmoniously  together,  was  a  thought  that 
lay  too  near  the  human  heart  to  be  uprooted  by  the 
ills  and  inequalities  of  actual  life.  In  this  the  Hin- 
du sided  altogether  with  the  Hebrew,  and  as  flatly 
contradicted  the  unworthy  speculations  of  the  mod- 
em philosopher,  who  would  fain  persuade  us  that 
human  beings  have  not  issued  from  one  single  pair, 
and  also,  that  the  primitive  type  of  men  is  scarcely 
separable  from  that  of  ordinary  animals.     .     .     ."  ^ 

Spence  Hardy,  in  speaking  on  this  subject,  de- 
scribes a  Buddhist  legend  of  Ceylon  which  repre- 
sents the  original  inhabitants  of  the  world  as  having 
been  once  spotlessly  pure,  and  as  dwelling  in  ethe- 
real bodies  which  moved  at  will  through  space. 
They  had  no  need  of  sun  or  moon.  They  lived  in 
perfect  happiness  and  peace  till,  at  last,  one  of  their 
number  tasted  of  a  strange  substance  which  he  found 
lying  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  He  induced  others 
to  eat  also,  whereupon  all  knew  good  and  evil,  and 
*  Christ  and  Other  Masters^  p.  281. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    273 

their  high  estate  was  lost.  They  now  had  perpetual 
need  of  food,  which  only  made  them  more  gross  and 
earthly.  Wickedness  abounded,  and  they  were  in 
darkness.  Assembling  together,  they  fashioned  for 
themselves  a  sun,  but  after  a  few  hours  it  fell  below 
the  horizon,  and  they  were  compelled  to  create  a 
moon.*  An  old  Mongolian  legend  represents  the 
first  man  as  having  transgressed  by  eating  a  pistache 
nut.  As  a  punishment,  he  and  all  his  posterity 
came  under  the  power  of  sin  and  death,  and  were 
subjected  to  toil  and  suffering. f  A  tradition  of  the 
African  Odshis,  already  named,  relates  that  for- 
merly God  was  very  near  to  men.  But  a  woman, 
who  had  been  pounding  banana  fruit  in  a  mortar, 
inadvertently  entering  His  presence  with  a  pestle 
in  her  hands,  aroused  His  anger,  and  He  with- 
drew into  the  high  heavens  and  listened  to  men 
no  more.  Six  rainless  years  brought  famine  and 
distress,  whereupon  they  besought  Him  to  send  one 
of  His  counsellors  who  should  be  their  daysman, 
and  should  undertake  their  cause  and  care  for  them. 
God  sent  his  chief  minister,  with  a  promise  that  He 
would  give  rain  and  sunshine,  and  He  directed  that 
His  rainbow  should  appear  in  the  sky.  J  The  inhab- 
itants of  Tahiti  have  a  tradition  of  a  fall  which  is 
very  striking ;  and  Humboldt,  after  careful  study, 
reached  the  conclusion  that  it  had  not  been  derived 
through  any  communication  with  Christian  lands, 
but  was  an  old  native  legend.  The  Karens  of 
Burmah  had  a  story  of  an  early  temptation  of  their 

*  Manual  of  BuddJdsm,  p.  66. 
f  Ebrard  :  Apologetics,  vol.  ii.  X  I^i^« 

18 


274    ORIENTAL  BELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

ancestors  by  an  evil  being  and  their  consequent 
apostasy.  Many  other  races  who  have  no  definite 
tradition  of  this  kind  have  still  some  vague  notion 
of  a  golden  age  in  the  past.  There  has  been  every- 
where a  mournful  and  pathetic  sense  of  something 
lost,  of  degeneracy  from  better  days  gone  by,  of  Di- 
vine displeasure  and  forfeited  favor.  The  baffled 
gropings  of  all  false  religions  seem  to  have  been  so 
many  devices  to  regain  some  squandered  heritage  of 
the  past.     All  this  is  strikingly  true  of  China. 

Still  more  clear  and  wellnigh  universal  are  the  tra- 
ditions of  a  flood.  The  Hindu  Brahmanas  and  the 
Mahabharata  of  a  later  age  present  legends  of  a  del- 
uge which  strikingly  resemble  the  story  of  Genesis. 
Yishnu  incarnate  in  a  fish  warned  a  great  sage  of  a  com- 
ing flood  and  directed  him  to  build  an  ark.  A  ship 
was  built  and  the  sage  with  seven  others  entered. 
Attached  to  the  horn  of  the  fish  the  ship  was  towed 
over  the  waters  to  a  high  mountain  top.*  The  Chi- 
nese also  have  a  story  of  a  flood,  though  it  is  not 
given  in  much  detail.  The  Iranian  tradition  is  very 
fragmentary  and  seems  to  confound  the  survivor 
with  the  first  man  of  the  creation.  Yima,  the  Noah 
of  the  story,  was  warned  by  the  beginning  of  a  great 
winter  rain,  by  which  the  waters  were  raised  19,000 
feet.  Yima  was  commanded  to  prepare  a  place  of 
safety  for  a  number  of  chosen  men,  birds,  and  beasts. 
It  was  to  be  three  stories  high,  and  to  be  fur- 
nished with  a  high  door  and  window,  but  whether 
it  was  a  ship  or  a  refuge  on  the  mountain  top  does 
not  appear.  The  same  tradition  speaks  of  Eden 
*  Indian  Wisdom^  pp.  32,  393, 


INDIBEGT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS   275 

and  of  a  serpent,  but  the  account  is  suddenly  cut 
short.  ^ 

The  Greek  traditions  of  a  flood  varied  according 
to  the  different  branches  of  the  Greek  nation.  The 
Arcadians  traced  their  origin  to  Dardanus,  who  was 
preserved  from  the  great  flood  in  a  skin-covered 
boat.  The  Pelasgians  held  the  tradition  of  Deuca- 
lion and  his  wife,  who  were  saved  in  a  ship  which 
was  grounded  on  the  summit  of  Pindus.  As  the 
water  receded  they  sent  out  a  dove  to  search  for 
land.  The  Assyrian  account,  which  was  found  a  few 
years  ago  on  a  tablet  in  the  palace  of  Assur-bani-pal, 
claims  to  have  been  related  as  a  matter  of  personal 
experience  by  Sisit,  the  Chaldean  Noah,  who  was 
commanded  to  construct  a  ship  600  cubits  long,  into 
which  he  should  enter  with  his  family  and  his  goods. 
At  the  time  appointed  the  earth  became  a  waste.  The 
very  gods  in  heaven  fled  from  the  fury  of  the  tem- 
pest and  "  huddled  down  in  their  refuge  like  affright- 
ed dogs."  The  race  of  men  was  swept  away.  On  the 
seventh  day  Sisit  opened  a  window  and  saw  that  the 
rain  was  stayed,  but  the  water  was  covered  with 
floating  corpses ;  all  men  had  become  as  clay.  The 
ship  rested  on  a  mountain  top,  and  Sisit  sent  forth  a 
dove,  a  swallow,  and  a  raven.  The  dove  and  the 
swallow  returned,  but  the  raven  was  satisfied  with 
the  floating  carcasses.  Sisit  went  forth  and  of- 
fered sacrifice,  around  which  "the  gods  hovered  like 
flies." 

Professor  Eawlinson  thinks  that  these  accounts 
and  those  given  in  Genesis  were  both  derived  from 
*Ebrard:  Apologetics^  vol.  ii. 


276    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

the  earlier  traditions,  the  Assyrian  version  having 
been  greatly  corrupted.  The  Chaldean  tradition  is 
slightly  different.  The  Noah  of  the  Chaldeans  was 
commanded  in  a  dream  not  only  to  build  a  ship,  but 
to  bury  all  important  documents  and  so  preserve  the 
antediluvian  history.  As  the  flood  subsided  he,  his 
family,  and  his  pilot  were  transferred  to  heaven,  but 
certain  friends  who  were  saved  with  them  remained 
and  peopled  the  earth.  Among  the  ancient  Peru- 
vians we  find  a  tradition  of  a  great  deluge  which 
swept  the  earth.  After  it  had  passed,  the  aged  man 
Wiracotscha  rose  out  of  Lake  Titicaca  and  his  three 
sons  issued  from  a  cave  and  peopled  the  earth.  ^ 
Hugh  Miller  and  others  have  named  many  similar 
traditions. 

The  fact  that  in  nearly  every  case  those  who  were 
rescued  from  the  flood  immediately  offered  piacular 
sacrifices  suggests  the  recognition  in  all  human  his- 
tory of  still  another  fundamental  doctrine  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  universal  sense  of  sin.  This  conviction 
was  especially  strong  when  the  survivors  of  a  Divine 
judgment  beheld  the  spectacle  of  a  race  swept  away 
for  their  transgressions ;  but  there  are  abundant 
traces  of  it  in  all  ages  of  the  world.  The  exceptions 
are  foimd  in  those  instances  where  false  systems  of 
philosophy  have  sophisticated  the  natural  sense  of 
guilt  by  destroying  the  consciousness  of  personality. 
All  races  of  men  have  shown  a  feeling  of  moral  delin- 
quency and  a  corresponding  fear.  The  late  C.  Lor- 
ing  Brace,  in  his  work  entitled  "  The  Unknown 
God,"  quotes  some  striking  penitential  psalms  or 
*Ebrard:  ApologeiicSy  vol.  iii. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    277 

prayers  offered  by  the  Akkadians  of  Northern  Assy- 
ria four  thousand  years  ago. 

The  deep-seated  conviction  of  guilt  which  is  indi- 
cated by  the  old  religion  of  the  Egyptians  is  well 
set  forth  by  Dr.  John  Wortabet,  of  Beyrut,  in  a 
pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Temples  and  Tombs  of 
Thebes."  He  says :  "  The  immortality  of  the  soul,  its 
rewards  and  punishments  in  the  next  world,  and  its 
final  salvation  and  return  into  the  essence  of  the  di- 
vinity were  among  the  most  cherished  articles  of 
the  Egyptian  creed.  Here  (in  the  tombs),  as  on 
the  papyri  which  contain  the  *  Eitual  of  the  Dead,' 
are  represented  the  passage  of  the  soul  through  the 
nether  world  and  its  introduction  into  the  Judgment 
Hall,  where  Osiris,  the  god  of  benevolence,  sits  on  a 
throne,  and  with  the  assistance  of  forty-two  assessors 
proceeds  to  examine  the  deceased.  His  actions  are 
weighed  in  a  balance  against  truth  in  the  presence 
of  Thoth,  the  ibis-headed  god  of  wisdom,  and  if 
found  wanting  he  is  hounded  out  in  the  shape  of  an 
unclean  animal  by  Anubis,  the  jackal-headed  god 
of  the  infernal  regions.  The  soul  then  proceeds  in 
a  series  of  transmigrations  into  the  bodies  of  ani- 
mals and  human  beings  and  thus  passes  through  a 
purgatorial  process  which  entitles  it  to  appear  again 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Osiris.  If  found  pure 
it  is  conveyed  to  Aalu,  the  Elysian  fields,  or  the 
*  Pools  of  Peace.'  After  three  thousand  years  of  sow- 
ing and  reaping  by  cool  waters  it  returns  to  its  old 
body  (the  preserved  mummy),  suffers  another  period 
of  probation,  and  is  ultimately  absorbed  into  the 
godhead.     One  of  the  most  impressive  scenes  in  the 


278    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

whole  series  is  that  where  the  soul,  in  the  form  of  a 
mummified  body,  stands  before  Osiris  and  the  forty- 
two  judges  to  be  examined  on  the  forty-two  com- 
mandments of  the  Egyptian  religion.  Bearing  on 
its  face  the  signs  of  solemnity  and  fear,  and  carrying 
in  its  hand  a  feather,  the  symbol  of  veracity,  it  says 
among  other  things  :  *  I  have  not  blasphemed  the 
gods,  I  have  defrauded  no  man,  I  have  not  changed 
the  measures  of  Egypt,  I  have  not  prevaricated  at 
the  courts  of  justice,  I  have  not  lied,  I  have  not 
stolen,  I  have  not  committed  adultery,  I  have  done 
no  murder,  I  have  not  been  idle,  I  have  not  been 
drunk,  I  have  not  been  cruel,  I  have  not  famished 
my  family,  I  have  not  been  a  hypocrite,  I  have 
not  defiled  my  conscience  for  the  sake  of  my  supe- 
riors, I  have  not  smitten  privily,  I  have  lived  on 
truth,  I  have  made  it  my  delight  to  do  what  men 
command  and  the  gods  approve,  I  have  given  bread 
to  the  hungry  and  drink  to  the  thirsty  and  clothes 
to  the  naked,  my  mouth  and  hands  are  pure.' 
Now  what  strikes  one  with  great  force  in  this  re- 
markable passage  from  the  walls  of  the  old  sand- 
covered  tombs  is  the  wonderful  scope  and  fulness 
with  which  the  laws  of  right  and  wrong  were 
stamped  upon  the  Egyptian  conscience.  There  is 
here  a  recognition,  not  only  of  the  great  evils  which 
man  shall  not  commit,  but  also  of  many  of  those  posi- 
tive duties  which  his  moral  nature  requires.  It 
matters  not  that  these  words  are  wholly  exculpatory; 
they  nevertheless  recognize  sin." 

But  perhaps  no  one  has  depicted  man's  sense  of 
guilt  and  fear  more  eloquently  than  Dean  Stanley 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    279 

when  speaking  of  the  Egyptian  Sphinx.  Proceed- 
ing upon  the  theory  that  that  time-worn  and  mys- 
terious relic  is  a  couchant  lion  whose  projecting 
paws  were  long  since  bnried  in  the  desert  sands,  and 
following  the  tradition  that  an  altar  once  stood  be- 
fore that  mighty  embodiment  of  power,  he  graphi- 
cally pictures  the  transient  generations  of  men,  in  all 
the  sin  and  weakness  of  their  frail  humanity,  coming 
up  with  their  offerings  and  their  prayers  "  between 
the  paws  of  deity."  It  is  a  grim  spectacle,  but  it 
emphasizes  the  sense  of  human  guilt.  Only  the 
Revealed  Word  of  God  affords  a  complete  and  satis- 
factory explanation  of  the  remarkable  fact  that  the 
human  race  universally  stand  self -convicted  of  sin. 

There  is  also  a  tribute  to  the  truth  of  Christianity 
in  certain  traces  of  a  conception  of  Divine  sacrifice 
for  sin  found  in  some  of  the  early  religious  faiths  of 
men.  All  are  familiar  with  the  difference  between 
the  offerings  of  Abel  and  those  of  Cain — the  former 
disclosing  a  faith  in  a  higher  expiation.  In  like 
manner  there  appear  mysterious  references  to  a  di- 
vine and  vicarious  sacrifice  in  the  early  Vedas  of 
India.  In  the  Parusha  Sukta  of  the  Big  Veda  oc- 
curs this  passage:  "From  him  called  Parusha  was 
bom  Viraj,  and  from  Yiraj  was  Parusha  produced, 
whom  gods  made  their  oblation.  With  Parusha  as 
a  victim  they  performed  a  sacrifice."  Manu  says 
that  Parusha,  "  the  first  man,"  was  called  Brahma, 
and  was  produced  by  emanation  from  the  "  self -exist- 
ent spirit."  Brahma  thus  emanating,  was  "  the  first 
male,"  or,  as  elsewhere  called,  "  the  bom  lord."  By 
him  the  world  was  made.     The  idea  is  brought  out 


280    ORIENTAL   RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

still  more  strikingly  in  one  of  the  Brahmanas  where 
the  sacrifice  is  represented  as  voluntary  and  all 
availing.  "  Surely,"  says  Sir  Monier  Williams,  "  in 
these  mysterious  allusions  to  the  sacrifice  of  a  repre- 
sentative man  we  may  perceive  traces  of  the  original 
institution  of  sacrifice  as  a  divinely  appointed  ordi- 
nance, typical  of  the  one  great  offering  of  the  Son  of 
God  for  the  sins  of  the  world."  The  late  Professor 
Banergea,  of  Calcutta,  reaching  the  same  conclusion, 
says  :  "  It  is  not  easy  to  account  for  the  genesis  of 
these  ideas  in  the  Yeda,  of  '  one  bom  in  the  begin- 
ning Lord  of  creatures,'  offering  himself  a  sacrifice 
for  the  benefit  of  deified  mortals,  except  on  the  as- 
sumption that  it  is  based  upon  the  tradition  of  the 
*Lamb  slain  from  the  foimdation  of  the  world.'  " 

No  doubt  modem  scepticism  might  be  slow  to  ac- 
knowledge any  such  inference  as  this ;  but  as  Pro- 
fessor Banergea  was  a  high-caste  Hindu  of  great 
learning,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  the  subtleties 
of  Hindu  thought,  his  opinion  should  have  great 
weight.  And  when  we  remember  how  easily  scien- 
tific scepticism  is  satisfied  with  the  faintest  traces  of 
whatever  strengthens  its  theories  —  how  thin  are 
some  of  the  generalizations  of  Herbert  Spencer  — 
how  very  slight  and  fanciful  are  the  resemblances  of 
words  which  philologists  often  accept  as  indisputable 
proofs  —  how  far-fetched  are  the  inferences  some- 
times drawn  from  the  appearance  of  half-decayed 
fossils  as  proofs  and  even  demonstrations  of  the  law 
of  evolution — we  need  not  be  over-modest  in  setting 
forth  these  traces  of  an  original  divine  element  in 
the  institution  of  typical  sacrifices  among  men. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    281 

It  is  never  safe  to  assume  positively  this  or  that 
meaning  for  a  mysterious  passage  found  in  the  sacred 
books  of  non-Christian  systems,  but  there  are  many 
things  which  seem  at  least  to  illustrate  important 
precepts  of  the  Christian  faith.  Thus  the  slain 
Osiris  of  the  Egyptians  was  said  to  enter  into  the 
sufferings  of  mortals.  "Having  suffered  the  great 
wound,"  so  the  record  runs,  "  he  was  wounded  in 
every  other  wound."  And  we  read  in  "  The  Book 
of  the  Dead  "  that  "  when  the  Lord  of  truth  cleanses 
away  defilement,  evil  is  joined  to  the  deity  that  the 
truth  may  expel  the  evil."  *  This  seems  to  denote  an 
idea  of  vicarious  righteousness. 

The  Onondaga  Indians  had  a  tradition  that  the 
celestial  Hiawatha  descended  from  heaven  and  dwelt 
among  their  ancestors,  and  that  upon  the  establish- 
ment of  the  League  of  the  Iroquois  he  was  called  by 
the  Great  Spirit  to  sanctify  that  League  by  seK- 
sacrifice.  As  the  Indian  council  was  about  to  open, 
Hiawatha  was  bowed  with  intense  suffering,  which 
faintly  reminds  one  of  Christ's  agony  in  Gethsemane. 
He  foresaw  that  his  innocent  and  only  child  would  be 
taken  from  him.  Soon  after  a  messenger  from  heav- 
en smote  her  to  the  earth  by  his  side.  Then,  having 
drank  this  cup  of  sorrow,  he  entered  the  council  and 
guided  its  deliberations  with  superhuman  wisdom,  f 
In  citing  this  incident  nothing  more  is  intended 
than  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  mysterious  con- 
ceptions which  seem  to  float  dimly  through  the 
minds  of  the  most  savage  races,  and  which  show  at 

*  De  Pressense :    The  Ancient  World  and  Christianity^  p.  87. 
f  Schoolcraft :  Notes  on  the  Iroquois. 


282    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

the  very  least  that  the  idea  of  vicarious  sacrifice  is 
not  strange  to  mankind,  but  is  often  mysteriously 
connected  with  their  greatest  blessings.  The  legend 
of  "Prometheus  Bound,"  as  we  find  it  in  the  tragedies 
of  iEschylus,  is  so  graphic  in  its  picture  of  vicarious 
suffering  for  the  good  of  men  that  infidel  writers 
have  charged  the  story  of  the  Cross  with  plagiarism, 
and  have  applied  to  Prometheus  some  of  the  expres- 
sions used  in  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  the  Prophecy 
of  Isaiah.  We  are  often  told  that  there  is  injustice 
in  the  very  idea  of  vicarious  suffering,  as  involved  in 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  salvation,  or  that  the  best 
instincts  of  a  reasonable  humanity  revolt  against  it. 
But  such  criticisms  are  sufficiently  met  by  these 
analogies  which  we  find  among  all  nations. 

Let  me  next  call  attention  to  some  of  the  pre- 
dicted deliverers  for  whom  the  nations  have  been 
looking.  Nothing  found  in  the  study  of  the  relig- 
ious history  of  mankind  is  more  striking  than  the 
universality  of  a  vague  expectation  of  coming  mes- 
siahs.  According  to  the  teachings  of  Hinduism  there 
have  been  nine  incarnations  of  Vishnu,  of  whom 
Buddha  was  admitted  to  be  one.  But  there  is  to  be 
a  tenth  avatar  who  shall  yet  come  at  a  time  of  great 
and  universal  wickedness,  and  shall  establish  a  king- 
dom of  righteousness  on  the  earth.  Some  years  ago 
the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Newton,  of  Lahore,  took  advantage 
of  this  prediction  and  wrote  a  tract  showing  that  the 
true  deliverer  and  king  of  righteousness  had  already 
come  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  So  striking 
seemed  the  fulfilment  viewed  from  the  Hindu  stand- 
point,  that  some  hundreds  in  the  city  of  Ram- 


INDIREGT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    283 

pore  were  led  to  a  faith  in  Christ  as  an  avatar  of 
Vishnu. 

A  remarkable  illustration  of  a  felt  want  of  some- 
thing brighter  and  more  hopeful  is  seen  in  the  le- 
gends and  predictions  of  the  Teutonic  and  Norse 
religions.  The  faiths  of  all  the  Teutonic  races  were 
of  the  sternest  character,  and  it  was  such  a  cultus  that 
made  them  the  terror  of  Europe.  They  worshipped 
their  grim  deities  in  the  congenial  darkness  of  deep 
forest  shades.  There  was  no  joy,  no  sense  of  divine 
pity,  no  peace.  They  were  conscious  of  deep  and 
unutterable  wants  which  were  never  met.  They 
yearned  for  a  golden  age  and  the  coming  of  a  deliv- 
erer. Baldr,  one  of  the  sons  of  Woden,  had  passed 
away,  but  prophecy  promised  that  he  should  return 
to  deliver  mankind  from  sorrow  and  from  death. 
"  When  the  twilight  of  the  gods  should  have  passed 
away,  then  amid  prodigies  and  the  crash  and  decay 
of  a  wicked  world,  in  glory  and  joy  he  should  return, 
and  a  glorious  kingdom  should  be  renewed."  Or,  in 
the  words  of  one  of  their  own  poets : 

**  Then  unsown  the  swath  shall  flourish  and  back  come 

Baldr ; 
With  him  Hoder  shall  dwell  in  Hropter's  palace, 
Shrines  of  gods  the  great  and  holy, 
There  the  just  shall  joy  forever, 

And  in  pleasure  pass  the  ages." 

The  well-known  prediction  of  the  Sibyl  of  Cumse 
bears  testimony  to  the  same  expectation  of  mankind. 
The  genuine  Sibylline  Oracles  were  in  existence  an- 
terior to  the  birth  of  Christ.     Virgil  died  forty  years 


284     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

before  that  event,  and  the  well-known  eclogue  Pol- 
lio  is  stated  by  him  to  be  a  transcript  of  the  pro- 
phetic carmen  of  the  Sibyl  of  Cumae.  But  for  the 
fact  that  it  has  a  Roman  instead  of  a  Jewish  color- 
ing, it  might  almost  seem  Messianic.  The  oracle 
speaks  thus :  "  The  last  era,  the  subject  of  the  Sibyl 
song  of  Cumae,  has  now  arrived ;  the  great  series  of 
ages  begins  anew.  The  virgin  returns — returns  the 
reign  of  Saturn.  The  progeny  from  heaven  now  de- 
scends. Be  thou  propitious  to  the  Infant  Boy  by 
whom  first  the  Iron  Age  shall  expire,  and  the  Golden 
Age  over  the  whole  world  shall  commence.  Whilst 
thou,  O  PoUio,  art  consul,  this  glory  of  our  age  shall 
be  made  manifest,  and  the  celestial  months  begin  their 
revolutions.  Under  thy  auspices  whatever  vestiges 
of  our  guilt  remain,  shall,  by  being  atoned  for,  re- 
deem the  earth  from  fear  forever.  He  shall  parlkk© 
of  the  life  of  the  gods.  He  shall  reign  over  a  world 
in  peace  with  his  father's  virtues.  The  earth,  sweet 
boy,  as  her  first-fruits,  shall  pour  thee  forth  sponta- 
neous fiowers.  The  serpent  shall  die :  the  poison- 
ous and  deceptive  tree  shall  die.  All  things,  heavens 
and  earth  and  the  regions  of  the  sea,  rejoice  at  the 
advent  of  this  age.  The  time  is  now  at  hand."* 
Forty  years  later  the  Christ  appeared.  Whether  Yir- 
gil  had  been  influenced  by  Hebrew  prophecy  it  is 
impossible  to  say.  It  may  be  that  the  so-called  Sibyl 
had  caught  something  of  the  same  hope  which  led  the 
Magi  of  the  East  to  the  cradle  of  the  infant  Messiah, 
but  in  any  case  the  eclogue  voiced  a  vague  expecta- 
tion which  prevailed  throughout  the  Boman  Empire. 
•  Quoted  by  Morgan  in  St.  Paul  in  Britain,  p.  23. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    285 

In  modem  as  well  as  in  ancient  times  nations  and 
races  have  looked  for  deliverers  or  for  some  brighter 
hope.  Missionaries  found  the  Hawaiians  dissatisfied 
and  hopeless;  their  idols  had  been  thrown  away. 
The  Karens  were  waiting  for  the  airival  of  the  mes- 
sengers of  the  truth.  The  Mexicans,  at  the  time  of 
the  Spanish  conquest,  were  looking  for  a  celestial 
benefactor.  The  very  last  instance  of  an  anxious 
looking  for  a  deliverer  is  that  which  quite  recently 
has  so  sadly  misled  our  Sioux  Indians. 

Mankind  have  longed  not  only  for  deliverers,  but 
also  for  mediators.  The  central  truth  of  the  Christ- 
ian faith  is  its  divine  sympathy  and  help  brought 
down  into  our  human  nature.  In  other  words,  me- 
diation— God  with  man.  The  faith  of  the  Hindus, 
lacking  this  element,  was  cold  and  remorseless. 
Siva,  the  god  of  destruction,  and  his  hideous  and 
blood-thirsty  wives,  had  become  chief  objects  of 
worship,  only  because  destruction  and  death  led  to 
life  again.  But  there  was  no  divine  help.  The 
gods  were  plied  with  sharp  bargains  in  sacrifice  and 
merit ;  they  were  appeased  ;  they  were  cajoled  ;  but 
there  was  no  love.  But  the  time  came  when  the  felt 
want  of  men  for  something  nearer  and  more  sympa- 
thetic led  to  the  doctrine  of  Vishnu's  incarnations : 
first  grotesque  deliverers  in  animal  shapes,  but  at 
length  the  genial  and  sympathetic  Krishna.  He 
was  not  the  highest  model  of  character,  but  he  was 
human.  He  had  associated  with  the  rustics  and 
frolicked  around  their  camp-fires.  He  became  Ar- 
juna's  charioteer  and  rendered  him  counsel  and  help 
in  that  low  disguise.     He  was  a  sharer  of  burdens — • 


ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

a  counsellor  and  friend.  And  he  became  the  most 
popular  of  all  Hindu  deities. 

The  important  point  in  all  this  is  that  this  old 
system,  so  seK-suificient  and  self-satisfied,  should 
have  groped  its  way  toward  a  divine  sympathizer  in 
human  form,  a  living  and  helpful  god  among  men. 
Hinduism  had  not  been  wanting  in  anthropomor- 
phisms :  it  had  imagined  the  presence  of  God  in  a 
thousand  visible  objects  which  rude  men  could  ap- 
preciate. Trees,  apes,  cattle,  crocodiles,  and  serpents 
had  been  invested  with  an  in-dwelling  spirit,  but  it 
had  found  no  mediator.  Men  had  been  trying  by  all 
manner  of  devices  to  sublimate  their  souls,  and  climb 
Godward  by  their  own  seK-mortification ;  but  they 
had  realized  no  divine  help.  To  meet  this  want 
they  developed  a  veritable  doctrine  of  faith.  They 
had  learned  from  Buddhism  the  great  influence  and 
power  of  one  who  could  instruct  and  counsel  and  en- 
courage. Some  Oriental  scholars  think  that  they  had 
also  learned  many  things  from  Christian  sources.* 

However  that  may  be — from  whatever  source  they 
had  gained  this  suggestion — they  found  it  to  accord 
with  the  deepest  wants  of  the  human  heart.  And 
the  splendid  tribute  which  that  peculiar  development 
bears  to  the  great  fundamental  principles  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  is  all  the  more  striking  for  the  fact  that  it 
grew  up  in  spite  of  the  adamantine  convervatism  of 
a  system,  all  of  whose  teachings  had  been  in  a  pre- 
cisely opposite  direction.      It  was   old  Hinduism 

*  The  full  development  of  the  doctrine  was  not  reached  till 
far  on  in  the  Christian  centuries.  Hardwiok  :  Christ  and  Other 
Masters^  p.  204. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    287 

coming  out  of  its  intrenchments  to  pay  honor  to  the 
true  way  of  eternal  life.  Probably  the  doctrine  first 
sprang  from  a  felt  want,  but  was  subsequently  rein- 
forced by  Christian  influences. 

The  late  Professor  Banergea,  in  his  "  Aryan  Wit- 
ness," gives  what  must  be  regarded  as  at  least  a  very 
plausible  account  of  the  last  development  of  the  so- 
called  Krishna  cult,  and  of  this  doctrine  of  faith. 
He  thinks  that  it  borrowed  very  much  from  western 
monotheists.  He  quotes  a  passage  from  the  Narada 
Pancharata,  which  represents  a  pious  Brahman  of  the 
eighth  century  a.d.,  as  having  been  sent  to  the  far 
northwest,  where  "  white-faced  monotheists  "  would 
teach  him  a  pure  faith  in  the  Supreme  Yishnu  or 
Krishna.  He  quotes  also,  from  another  and  later 
authority,  a  dialogue  in  which  this  same  Brahman  re- 
proved Vyasa  for  not  having  celebrated  the  praises 
of  Krishna  as  supreme.  This  Professor  Banergea 
regarded  as  proof  that  previously  to  the  eighth  cen- 
tury Krishna  has  been  worshipped  only  as  a  demi- 
god. But  the  whole  drift  of  the  old  Brahmanical 
doctrines  had  been  toward  sacrifice  as  a  debt  and 
credit  system,  and  that  plan  had  failed.  It  had  im- 
poverished the  land  and  ruined  the  people,  and  had 
brought  no  spiritual  comfort.  Men  had  found  that 
they  could  not  buy  salvation. 

Moreover,  Buddhism  and  other  forms  of  ration- 
alistic philosophy,  after  prolonged  and  thorough 
experiment,  had  also  failed.  The  Hindu  race  had 
found  that  as  salvation  could  not  be  purchased 
with  sacrifices,  neither  could  it  be  reasoned  out  by 
philosophy,  nor  worked  out  by  austerities.    It  must 


288    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANIT7 

come  from  a  Divine  helper.  Thus,  when  Narada 
had  wearied  himself  with  austerities — so  we  read 
in  the  Narada  Pancharata — he  heard  a  voice  from 
heaven  saying:  "If  Krishna  is  worshipped,  what 
is  the  use  of  austerities?  If  Krishna  is  not  wor- 
shipped, what  is  the  use  of  austerities?  If  Krishna 
is  within  and  without,  what  is  the  use  of  austerities  ? 
If  Krishna  is  not  within  and  without,  what  is  the  use 
of  austerities  ?  Stop,  O  Brahman ;  why  do  you  en- 
gage in  austerities?  Go  quickly  and  get  matured 
faith  in  Krishna,  as  described  by  the  sect  of  Vishnu 
who  snaps  the  fetters  of  the  world."  "  We  are  thus 
led,"  says  Professor  Banergea,  "  to  the  very  genesis 
of  the  doctrine  of  faith  in  connection  with  Hinduism. 
And  it  was  admittedly  not  an  excogitation  of  the 
Brahmanical  mind  itself.  Narada  had  brought  it 
from  the  land  of  '  the  whites,'  where  he  got  an  insight 
into  Yishnu  as  the  Saviour  which  was  not  attainable 
elsewhere."  And  he  then  persuaded  the  author  of 
one  of  the  Puranas  to  recount  the  "  Lord's  acts  " — in 
other  words,  the  history  of  Krishna,  with  the  enforce- 
ment of  faith  in  his  divinity :  "  Change  the  name," 
says  Banergea,  "and  it  is  almost  Christian  doctrine."* 
It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Buddhism,  in  its  prog- 
ress through  the  centuries,  has  also  wrought  out  a 
doctrine  of  faith  by  a  similar  process.  It  began  as  a 
form  of  atheistic  rationalism.  Its  most  salient  feat- 
ure was  staunch  and  avowed  independence  of  all 
help  from  gods  or  men.  It  emphasized  in  every 
way  the  self-sufficiency  of  one's  own  mind  and  will 
to  work  out  emancipation.  But  when  Buddha  died 
*  Aryan  Witness,  closing  chapter. 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    289 

no  enlightened  counsellor  was  left,  and  another 
Buddha  could  not  be  expected  for  four  thousand 
years.  The  multitudes  of  his  disciples  felt  that, 
theory  or  no  theory,  there  was  an  awful  void.  The 
bald  and  bleak  system  could  not  stand  on  such  a 
basis.  The  human  heart  cried  out  for  some  divine 
helper,  some  one  to  whom  man  could  pray.  Fortun- 
ately there  were  supposed  to  be  predestined  Buddhas 
— "  Bodisats  " — then  living  in  some  of  the  heavens, 
aud  as  they  were  preparing  themselves  to  become 
incarnate  Buddhas,  they  must  already  be  interested 
in  human  affairs,  and  especially  the  Maitreyeh,  who 
would  appear  on  earth  next  in  order. 

So  Buddhism,  in  spite  of  its  own  most  pronounced 
dogmas,  began  to  pray  to  an  unseen  being,  began  to 
depend  and  trust,  began  to  lay  hold  on  divine  sym- 
pathy, and  look  to  heaven  for  help.  By  the  seventh 
century  of  our  era  the  northern  Buddhists,  whether 
influenced  in  part  by  the  contact  of  Christianity,  or 
not,  had  subsidized  more  than  one  of  these  coming 
Buddhas.  They  had  a  complete  Trinity.  One  per- 
son of  this  Trinity,  the  everywhere  present  Avolo- 
kitesvara,  became  the  chief  object  of  worship,  the 
divine  helper  on  whom  all  dependence  was  placed. 
This  mythical  being  was  really  the  God  of  northern 
Buddhism  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  is  the  popular 
sympathizer  of  all  Mongolian  races  to  the  present 
day.  In  Thibet  he  is  supposed  to  be  incarnate  in 
the  Grand  Lama.  In  China  he  is  incarnate  in  Quan- 
yen,  the  goddess  of  mercy.  With  sailors  she  is  the 
goddess  of  the  sea.  In  many  temples  she  is  invoked 
by  the  sick,  the  halt,  the  blind,  the  impoverished. 
19 


290     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

Her  images  are  sometimes  represented  with  a  hun-. 
dred  arms  to  symbolize  her  omnipotence  to  save. 
Beal  says  of  this,  as  Banergea  says  of  the  faith  ele- 
ment of  the  Krishna  cult,  that  it  is  wholly  alien  to 
the  religion  whose  name  it  bears  :  it  is  not  Budd- 
hism. He  thinks  that  it  has  been  greatly  affected 
by  Christian  influences. 

Another  mythical  being  who  is  worshipped  as  God 
in  China  and  Japan,  is  Amitabba,  a  Dhyana  or  celes- 
tial Buddha,  who  in  long  kalpas  of  Time  has  ac- 
quired merit  enough  for  the  whole  world.  Two  of 
the  twelve  Buddhist  sects  of  Japan  have  abandoned 
every  principle  taught  by  Gautama,  except  his  ethics, 
and  have  cast  themselves  upon  the  free  grace  of  Ami- 
tabba. They  have  exchanged  the  old  atheism  for 
theism.  They  have  given  up  all  dependence  on 
merit-making  and  self-help ;  they  now  rely  wholly 
on  the  infinite  merit  of  another.  Their  religious 
duties  are  performed  out  of  gratitude  for  a  free  sal- 
vation wrought  out  for  them,  and  no  longer  as  the 
means  of  gaining  heaven.  They  live  by  a  faith 
which  works  by  love.  They  expect  at  death  an  im- 
mediate transfer  to  a  permanent  heaven,  instead  of 
a  series  of  transmigrations.  Their  Buddha  is  not 
dead,  but  he  ever  liveth  to  receive  into  his  heavenly 
realm  all  who  accept  his  grace,  and  to  admit  them  to 
his  divine  fellowship  forever.  By  a  direct  and  com- 
plete imputation  they  are  made  sharers  in  his  right- 
eousness, and  become  joint  heirs  in  his  heavenly 
inheritance.  Whatever  the  genesis  of  these  strange 
cults  which  now  prevail  as  the  chief  religious  beliefs 
among  the  Mongolian  races,  they  are  marvellously 


INDIREOT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATBEN  SYSTEMS   291 

significant.  They  have  come  almost  to  the  very 
threshold  of  Christianity.  What  they  need  is  the 
true  Saviour  and  not  a  myth,  a  living  faith  and  not 
an  empty  delusion.  Nevertheless,  they  prove  that 
faith  in  a  divine  salvation  is  the  only  religion  that 
can  meet  the  wants  of  the  human  soul. 

There  is  something  very  encouraging  in  these 
approaches  toward  the  great  doctrines  of  salvation. 
I  do  not  believe  that  these  sects  have  come  so  near 
to  the  true  Messiah  without  the  influence  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  without  more  or  less  light  from 
Christian  sources.  But  partly  they  have  been  moved 
by  those  wants  which  Hinduism  and  Buddhism 
could  not  satisfy.  The  principle  of  their  faith  is 
worthy  of  recognition,  and  the  missionary  should 
say  as  Paul  said :  "  Whom  ye  ignorantly  worship, 
Him  declare  I  unto  you." 

It  is  a  very  significant  fact  that  most  of  the 
Brahmo  Somajes  of  India  have  adopted  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  greatest  of  the  world's  prophets.  Chunder 
Sen  sometimes  spoke  of  him  as  a  devout  Christian 
would  speak.  The  Arya  Somaj  would  not  own  His 
name,  but  it  has  graced  its  Hindu  creed  with  many  of 
His  essential  doctrines.  Quite  recently  a  new  organ 
of  the  Brahmo  Somaj,  published  at  Hyderabad,  has 
announced  as  its  leading  object,  "  to  harmonize  pure 
Hinduism  and  pure  Christianity,  with  Christ  as  the 
chief  comer-stone."  In  the  exact  words  of  this  paper, 
called  The  Harmony,  its  aim  is  "to  preach  Christ 
as  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  as  the  Logos  in  all  proph- 
ets and  saints  before  and  after  the  incarnation,  as 
the  incarnate,  perfect  righteousness  by  whose  obe- 


292     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

dience  man  is  made  righteous.  .  .  .  Christ  is 
the  reconciliation  of  man  with  man,  and  of  all  men 
with  God,  the  harmony  of  humanity  with  humanity, 
and  of  all  humanity  with  Divinity."  This  prospec- 
tus condemns  the  average  Christianity  of  foreigners 
in  India — th^  over-reaching,  "  beef -eating,  beer- 
drinking"  Anglo-Saxon  type,  "which  despises  the 
Hindu  Scriptures  and  yet  belies  its  own ;  "  but  it  ex- 
alts the  spotless  and  exalted  Christ  and  builds  all 
the  hopes  of  humanity  upon  Him.  How  will  the 
mere  philosopher  explain  this  wonderful  power  of 
personality  over  men  of  all  races,  if  it  be  not  Di- 
vine? 

But  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  tribute  to  the 
transcendent  character  of  Christ  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  all  sects  of  religionists,  the  most  fanatical  and 
irrational,  seem  to  claim  Him  as  in  some  sense  their 
own.  Mormonism,  even  when  plunging  into  the 
lowest  depths  of  degradation,  has  always  claimed  to 
rest  on  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ.  Mohamme- 
danism— even  the  Koran  itself — has  always  acknowl- 
edged Christ  as  the  only  sinless  prophet.  All  the 
others,  from  Adam  to  Mohammed,  stand  convicted  of 
heinous  offences,  and  they  will  not  reappear  on 
earth ;  while  He  who  knew  no  sin  shall,  according  to 
Mohammedan  prophecy,  yet  come  again  to  judge 
the  earth.  The  worshippers  of  Krishna,  some  of 
whom  are  found  among  us  in  this  land,  claim  Christ 
as  one  of  the  true  avatars  of  Vishnu,  and  heartily 
commend  His  character  and  His  teachings.  Our 
western  Buddhists  are  just  now  emphasizing  the  idea 
that  Christ  was  the  sacred  Buddha  of  Palestine,  that 


INDIRECT  TRIBUTES  OF  HEATHEN  SYSTEMS    293 

he  studied  and  taught  "  the  eight-fold  path,"  became 
an  arahat,  and  attained  Nirvana,  and  that  the  Chris- 
tian Church  has  only  misrepresented  His  transcen- 
dent wisdom  and  purity.  The  ablest  tract  on  The- 
osophy  that  I  have  yet  seen  is  entitled  "  Theosophy 
the  Religion  of  Jesus." 

How  marvellous  is  all  this — that  Theosophists, 
Aryas,  Brahmos,  Buddhists,  Moslems,  though  they 
hate  Christianity  and  fight  it  to  the  death — still  bow 
before  the  mild  sceptre  of  Christ.  As  the  central 
light  of  the  diamond  shines  alike  through  every  facet 
and  angle,  so  His  doctrine  and  character  are  claimed 
as  the  glory  of  every  creed.  Many  types  of  heathen 
faiths  honor  Him,  and  many  schools  of  philosophic 
scepticism.  Some  of  the  noblest  tributes  to  His  un- 
earthly purity  have  been  given  by  men  who  rejected 
His  divinity.  In  spite  of  itself  the  most  earnest 
thought  of  many  races,  many  systems,  many  creeds, 
has  crystallized  around  Him.  History  has  made  Him 
its  moral  centre,  the  calendar  of  the  nations  begins 
with  Him,  and  the  anniversary  of  His  birth  is  the 
festival  of  the  civilized  world.  The  prediction  that 
all  nations  should  call  Him  blessed  is  already  ful- 
fiUed. 


LECTUEE  IX. 

ETHICAL  TENDENCIES  OF  THE  EASTERN  AND  THE 
WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss  tlie  comparative 
merits  of  philosophic  systems,  but  only  to  consider 
some  practical  bearings  of  philosophy,  ancient  and 
modem,  upon  vital  questions  of  morals  and  relig- 
ion. There  has  been  no  lack  of  speculation  in  the 
world.  For  ages  the  most  gifted  minds  have  la- 
bored and  struggled  to  solve  the  mysteries  of  the 
Universe  and  of  its  Author.  But  they  have  missed 
the  all-important  fact  that  with  the  heart,  as  well  as 
with  the  intellect,  men  are  to  be  learners  of  the  high- 
est wisdom,  and  that  they  are  to  listen  to  the  voice 
of  God  not  only  in  nature,  but  in  the  soul. 

So  the  old  questions,  still  unsolved,  are  ever  asked 
anew.  The  same  wearying  researches  and  the  same 
confident  assertions,  to  be  replaced  by  others  equal- 
ly confident,  are  found  both  in  the  ancient  and  in 
the  modem  history  of  mankind.  By  wisdom  the 
present  generation  has  come  no  nearer  to  finding  out 
God  than  men  of  the  remotest  times.  The  cheerless 
conclusion  of  agnosticism  was  reached  in  India 
twenty-four  centuries  ago,  and  Confucius  expressed 
it  exactly  when  he  said,  with  reference  to  the  future, 
"  We  do  not  know  life  ;  how  can  we  know  death  ?  " 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     295 

This  same  dubious  negation  probably  has  the  larg- 
est following  of  all  types  of  unbelief  in  our  time.  It 
is  not  atheism  :  that,  to  the  great  mass  of  men,  is  un- 
thinkable ;  it  is  easier  to  assume  simply  that  "we  do 
not  know."  Yet  almost  every  form  of  agnosticism, 
ancient  or  modem,  claims  to  possess  a  vast  amount 
of  very  positive  knowledge.  Speculative  hypothesis 
never  employed  the  language  of  dogmatic  assurance 
so  confidently  as  now.  Even  theosophic  occultism 
speaks  of  itself  as  "  science." 

That  which  strikes  one  first  of  all  in  the  history 
of  philosophy  is  the  similarity  between  ancient  and 
modern  speculations  upon  the  great  mysteries  of  the 
world. 

1.  Notice  with  what  accord  various  earlier  and 
later  theories  dispense  with  real  and  personal  crea- 
torship  in  the  origin  of  the  universe.  The  atomic 
theory  of  creation  is  by  no  means  a  modem  inven- 
tion, and  so  far  as  evolution  is  connected  with  that 
hypothesis,  evolution  is  very  old.  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer  states  his  theory  thus :  "  First  in  the 
order  of  evolution  is  the  formation  of  simple  me- 
chanical aggregates  of  atoms,  e.g.,  molecules,  spheres, 
systems ;  then  the  evolution  of  more  complex  ag- 
gregations or  organisms  :  then  the  evolution  of  the 
highest  product  of  organization,  thought ;  and  last- 
ly, the  evolution  of  the  complex  relations  which 
exist  between  thinking  organisms,  or  society  with 
its  regulative  laAvs,  both  civil  and  moral."  Be- 
tween these  stages,  he  tells  us,  "  there  is  no  fixed 

line  of  demarcation The  passage  from 

one  to  the  other  is  continuous,  the  transition  from 


296     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

organization  to  thought  being  mediated  by  the  nerve- 
system,  in  the  molecular  changes  of  which  are  to  be 
found  the  mechanical  correlates  and  equivalents  of 
all  conscious  processes."  It  will  be  seen  that  this 
comprehensive  statement  is  designed  to  cover,  if  not 
the  creation,  at  least  the  creative  processes  of  all 
things  in  the  universe  of  matter  and  in  the  universe 
of  thought. 

Mr.  Spencer  does  not  allude  here  to  the  question 
of  a  First  Cause  back  of  the  molecules  and  their 
movements,  though  he  is  generally  understood  to 
admit  that  such  a  Cause  may  exist.  He  does  not 
in  express  terms  deny  that  at  some  stage  in  this 
development  there  may  have  been  introduced  a  di- 
vine spark  of  immortal  life  direct  from  the  Crea- 
tor's hand.  He  even  maintains  that  "  the  conscious 
soul  is  not  the  product  of  a  collocation  of  material 
particles,  but  is  in  the  deepest  sense  a  Divine  efflu- 
ence." *  Yet  he  seems  to  get  on  without  any  very- 
necessary  reliance  upon  such  an  intervention,  since 
the  development  from  the  atom  to  the  civilized  man 
is  "  a  continuous  process,"  and  throughout  the  whole 
course  from  molecule  to  thought  and  moral  and  so- 
cial law,  "  there  are  no  lines  of  demarcation."  He 
leaves  it  for  the  believer  in  theistic  evolution  to 
show  when  and  where  and  how  the  Divine  effluence 
is  introduced. 

Similar  to  this  was  the  theory  which  the  Hindu 

Kanada  propoimded  more  than  two  thousand  years 

ago.     As  translated  and  interpreted  by  Colebrook, 

Kanada  taught  that  "  two  earthly  atoms  concurring 

♦  Quoted  in  Fiske's  Destiny  of  Man,  p.  117. 


EASTERN  AND  WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES .   297 

by  an  unseen  and  peculiar  virtue  called  "  adrishta," 
or  by  the  will  of  God,  or  by  time,  or  by  competent 
cause,  constitute  a  double  atom  of  earth ;  and  by 
concourse  of  three  binary  atoms  a  tertiary  atom  is 
produced,  and  by  concourse  of  four  triple  atoms  a 
quaternary,  and  so  on.*  Thus  the  great  earth  is 
produced.  The  system  of  Lucretius  was  much  the 
same,  though  neither  Lucretius  nor  Spencer  has 
recognized  any  such  force  as  adrishta.  f 

What  seems  to  distinguish  Mr.  Spencer's  theory  is 
the  extension  of  this  evolutionary  process  to  mind 
and  spirit  in  the  development  of  thought  and  feeling. 
He  does  not  say  that  mind  resides  in  the  molecules, 
but  that  their  movements  attend  (if  they  do  not 
originate  and  control)  the  operation  of  the  mind. 
Professor  Leconte  seems  to  go  farther  when  he 
says  that  "  in  animals  brain-changes  are  in  all  cases 
the  cause  of  psychical  phenomena ;  in  man  alone, 
and  only  in  his  higher  activities,  psychic  changes 
precede  and  determine  brain  changes."  J  "We  shall 
see  farther  on  that  Mr.  Spencer,  in  his  theory  of 
intuition,  admits  this  same  principle  by  logical  in- 
ference, and  traces  even  man's  highest  faculties  to 
brain  or  nerve  changes  in  our  ancestors.  Kanada 
also  held  that  mind,  instead  of  being  a  purely  spir- 
itual power,  is  atomic  or  molecular,  and  by  logical 

*  See  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  83. 

f  What  Kanada  meant  by  adrishta  was  a  sort  of  habit  of  mat- 
ter derived  from  its  past  combinations  in  a  previous  cosmos,  one 
or  more.  The  rod  which  has  been  bent  will  bend  again,  and  so 
matter  which  has  once  been  combined  will  unite  again. 

%  Evolution  and  its  Relation  to  Religious  ITwught,  p.  327. 


298     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

deduction  tlie  mental  activities  must  depend  on  the 
condition  of  the  molecules. 

Earn  Chandra  Bose,  in  expounding  Kanada's 
theory,  says  :  "  The  general  idea  of  mind  is  that 
which  is  subordinate  to  substance,  being  also  found 
in  intimate  relations  in  an  atom,  and  it  is  itseK 
material."  The  early  Buddhist  philosophers  also 
taught  that  physical  elements  are  among  the  five 
"skandas"  which  constitute  the  phenomenal  soul. 
Democritus  and  Lucretius  regarded  the  mind  as 
atomic,  and  the  primal  "  monad  "  of  Leibnitz  was  the 
living  germ — smallest  of  things — which  enters  into  all 
visible  and  invisible  creations,  and  which  is  itself  all- 
potential  ;  it  is  a  living  microcosm  ;  it  is  an  immortal 
soul.  These  various  theories  are  not  parallels,  but 
they  have  striking  similarities.  And  I  believe  that 
Professor  Tyndall,  in  his  famous  BeKast  Address, 
virtually  acknowledges  Lucretius  as  the  father  of  the 
modem  atomic  theories.  Whether  Lucretius  bor- 
rowed them  from  Lidia,  we  shall  not  stop  to  inquire, 
but  we  may  safely  assert  that  modem  philosophers, 
German,  French  or  English,  have  borrowed  them 
from  one  or  both. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  the  atomic  theory,  or  the  relation  of  mind 
to  the  movements  of  molecules  in  the  brain ;  I 
simply  point  out  the  fact  that  this  is  virtually  an  old 
hypothesis;  and  I  leave  each  one  to  judge  how 
great  a  degree  of  light  it  has  shed  upon  the  path  of 
human  life  in  the  ages  of  the  past,  how  far  it 
availed  to  check  the  decline  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
and  how  much  of  real  moral  or  intellectual  force  it 


EA8TERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     299 

has  imparted  to  the  Hindu  race.  The  credulous 
masses  of  men  should  not  be  left  to  suppose  that 
these  are  new  speculations,  nor  to  imagine  that  that 
which  has  been  so  barren  in  the  past  can  become  a 
gospel  of  hope  in  the  present  and  the  future. 

The  constant  tendency  with  young  students  of 
philosophy,  is  to  conclude  that  the  hypotheses 
which  they  espouse  with  so  much  enthusiasm  are 
new  revelations  in  metaphysics  and  ethics  as  well 
as  in  physical  science  —  compared  with  which  the 
Christian  cultus  of  eighteen  centuries  is  now  effete 
and  doomed.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to  know  that  so 
far  from  these  speculations  having  risen  upon  the 
ruins  of  Christianity,  Christianity  rose  upon  the 
ruins  of  these  speculations  as,  in  modified  forms, 
they  had  been  profoundly  elaborated  in  the  philos- 
ophies of  Greece  and  Eome.  Lucretius  was  bom  a 
century  before  the  Christian  era,  and  Democritus, 
whose  disciple  he  became,  lived  earlier  still.  Kan- 
ada,  the  atomist  philosopher  of  India,  lived  three  cen- 
turies before  Democritus.  The  early  Christian  fa- 
thers were  perfectly  familiar  with  the  theories  of 
Lucretius.  We  are  indebted  to  Jerome  for  many 
of  the  facts  which  we  possess  concerning  him.  Near- 
ly all  the  great  leaders  of  the  church,  from  Origen 
to  Ambrose,  had  studied  Greek  philosophy,  some 
of  them  had  been  its  devotees  before  their  conversion 
to  the  Christian  faith.  There  is  at  least  incident- 
al evidence  that  the  Apostle  Paul  was  versed  in 
the  current  philosophy  as  well  as  in  the  poetry  of 
Greece. 

These  great  men — great  in  natural  powers  and  in 


300     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRI8TIANITT 

philosophic  training — had  seen  just  what  the  specu- 
lations of  Democritus,  Lucretius,  Zeno,  Socrates, 
Plato,  and  Aristotle  could  do ;  they  had  indeed  un- 
dermined the  low  superstitions  of  their  time,  but  they 
had  proved  powerless  to  regenerate  society,  or  even 
relieve  the  individual  pessimism  and  despair  of  men 
like  Seneca,  Pliny,  or  Marcus  Aurelius.  Lucretius, 
wholly  or  partially  insane,  died  by  his  own  hand. 
The  light  of  philosophy  left  the  Eoman  Empire,  as 
XJhlhom  and  others  have  clearly  shown,  imder  the 
shadow  of  a  general  despair.  And  it  was  in  the 
midst  of  that  gloom  that  the  light  of  Christianity 
shone  forth.  Augustine,  who  had  fathomed  various 
systems  and  believed  in  them,  tells  us  that  it  was 
the  philosophy  which  appeared  in  the  writings  and 
in  the  life  of  the  Apostle  Paul  which  finally  wrought 
the  great  change  in  his  career.  Plato  had  done 
much;  Paul  and  the  Cross  of  Christ  did  infinitely 
more. 

The  development  of  higher  forms  of  life  from 
lower  by  natural  selection,  as  set  forth  by  the  late 
Charles  Darwin,  has  been  supposed  to  be  an  entirely 
new  system.  Yet  the  Chinese  claim  to  have  held  a 
theory  of  development  which  represents  the  moun- 
tains as  having  once  been  covered  by  the  sea. 
When  the  waters  subsided  small  herbs  sprang  up, 
which  in  the  course  of  ages  developed  into  trees. 
Worms  and  insects  also  appeared  spontaneously,  like 
lice  upon  a  living  body;  and  these  after  a  long 
period  became  larger  animals — beetles  became  tor- 
toises ;  worms,  serpents.  The  mantis  was  developed 
into  an  ape,  and  certain  apes  became  at  length  hair- 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     301 

less.  One  of  these  by  accident  struck  fire  witli  a 
flint.  The  cooking  of  food  at  length  followed  the 
use  of  fire,  and  the  apes,  by  being  better  nourished, 
were  finally  changed  into  men.  Whether  this  theory 
is  ancient  or  modem,  it  is  eminently  Chinese,  and 
it  shows  the  natural  tendency  of  men  to  ascribe  the 
germs  of  life  to  spontaneous  generation,  because  they 
fail  to  see  the  Great  First  Cause  who  produces  them. 
The  one  thing  which  is  noticeable  in  nearly  all 
human  systems  of  religion  and  philosophy,  is  that 
they  have  no  clear  and  distinct  idea  of  creatorship. 
They  are  systems  of  evolution ;  in  one  way  or 
another  they  represent  the  world  as  having  grown. 
Generally  they  assume  the  eternity  of  matter,  and 
often  they  are  found  to  regard  the  present  cosmos  as 
only  a  certain  stage  in  an  endless  circle  of  changes 
from  life  to  death  and  from  death  to  life.  The 
world  rebuilds  itself  from  the  wreck  and  debris  of 
former  worlds.  It  is  quite  consistent  with  many  of 
these  systems  that  there  should  be  gods,  but  as  a 
rule  they  recognize  no  God.  While  all  races  of  men 
have  shown  traces  of  a  belief  in  a  Supreme  Creator 
and  Euler  far  above  their  inferior  deities,  yet  their 
philosophers,  if  they  had  any,  have  sooner  or  later 
bowed  Him  out. 

2.  Most  systems  of  philosophic  speculation,  an- 
cient and  modem,  tend  to  weaken  the  sense  of  moral 
accoimtability.  First,  the  atomic  theory,  which  we 
have  just  considered,  leads  to  this  result  by  the  mo- 
lecular, and  therefore  purely  physical,  origin  which 
it  assigns  to  moral  acts  and  conditions.  We  have 
already  alluded  to  Herbert  Spencer's  theory  of  intu- 


302     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

ition.  In  the  "Data  of  Ethics,"  page  123,  he  says: 
"  I  believe  that  the  experiences  of  utility,  organized 
and  consolidated  through  all  past  generations  of  the 
human  race,  have  been  producing  corresponding  ner- 
vous modifications,  which  by  continued  transmission 
and  accumulation  have  become  in  us  certain  faculties 
of  moral  intuition,  certain  emotions  corresponding  to 
right  and  wrong  conduct  which  have  no  apparent 
basis  in  the  individual  experiences  of  utility." 

It  appears  from  this  statement  that,  so  far  as  we 
are  concerned,  our  moral  intuitions  are  the  results  of 
"  nervous  modifications,"  if  not  in  ourselves,  at  least 
in  our  ancestors,  so  that  the  controlling  influence 
which  rules,  and  which  ought  to  rule,  our  conduct  is  a 
nervous,  and  therefore  a  physical,  condition  which  we 
have  inherited.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  every 
man's  conscience  or  inherited  moral  sense  is  bound 
by  a  necessity  of  his  physical  constitution.  And  if 
this  be  so,  why  is  there  not  a  wide  door  here  opened 
for  theories  of  moral  insanity,  which  might  come  at 
length  to  cast  their  shield  over  all  forms  and  grades 
of  crime  ?  It  is  easy  to  see  that,  whatever  theory  of 
creation  may  be  admitted  as  to  the  origin  of  the  hu- 
man soul,  this  hypothesis  rules  out  the  idea  of  an 
original  moral  likeness  of  the  human  spirit  to  a  Su- 
preme Moral  Ruler  of  the  imiverse,  in  whom  right- 
eousness dwells  as  an  eternal  principle  ;  and  it  finds 
no  higher  source  for  what  we  caH  conscience  than  the 
accumulated  experience  of  our  ancestors. 

The  materialistic  view  recently  presented  by  Dr. 
Henry  Maudsley,  in  an  article  entitled,  "  The  Physi- 
cal Basis  of  Mind  " — an  article  which  seems  to  f ol- 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     303 

low  Mr.  Spencer  very  closely — would  break  down  all 
moral  responsibility.  His  theory  that  true  character 
depends  upon  what  he  calls  the  reflex  action  of  the 
nerve-cells  ;  that  acts  of  reason  or  conscience  which 
have  been  put  forth  so  many  times  that,  in  a  sense, 
they  perform  themselves  without  any  exercise  of 
consciousness,  are  the  best ;  that  a  man  is  an  instinc- 
tive thief  or  liar,  or  a  bom  poet,  because  the  proper 
nervous  structure  has  been  fixed  in  his  constitution 
by  his  ancestors ;  that  any  moral  act,  so  long  as  it  is 
conscious,  is  not  ingrained  in  character,  and  the  more 
conscious  it  is,  the  more  dubious  it  is ;  and  that 
"virtue  itself  is  not  safely  lodged  imtil  it  has  be- 
come a  habit " — in  other  words,  till  it  has  become  an 
automatic  and  unconscious  operation  of  the  nerve- 
cells,  such  a  doctrine,  in  its  extreme  logical  results, 
destroys  all  voluntary  and  conscious  loyalty  to  prin- 
ciple, and  renders  man  a  mere  automatic  machine. 

On  the  other  hand  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  in  combat- 
ing the  theory  that  the  moral  sense  in  man  is  based 
on  the  utility  experienced  by  our  ancestors,  re- 
lates the  following  incident :  "  A  number  of  prison- 
ers taken  during  the  Santal  insurrection  were  al- 
lowed to  go  free  on  parole,  to  work  at  a  certain  spot 
for  wages.  After  some  time  cholera  attacked  them 
and  they  were  obliged  to  leave,  but  everyone  of  them 
returned  and  gave  up  his  earnings  to  the  guard. 
Two  hundred  savages  with  money  in  their  girdles 
walked  thirty  miles  back  to  prison  rather  than  break 
their  word.  My  own  experience  with  savages  has 
furnished  me  with  similar,  although  less  severely 
tested,  instances ;  and  we  cannot  avoid  asking  how  it 


304:    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

is  that,  in  these  few  cases  "  experience  of  utility  " 
have  left  such  an  overpowering  impression,  while  in 
others  they  have  left  none.  .  .  .  The  intuitional 
theory  which  I  am  now  advocating  explains  this  by 
the  supposition  that  there  is  a  feeling — a  sense  of 
right  and  wrong — in  our  nature  antecedent  to,  and 
independent  of,  experiences  of  utility."  * 

3.  Theories  which  confound  the  origin  of  man 
with  that  of  brutes,  whether  in  the  old  doctrine  of 
transmigration  or  in  at  least  some  of  the  theories  of 
evolution,  involve  a  contradiction  in  man's  ethical  his- 
tory. The  confusion  shown  in  the  Buddhist  Jatakas, 
wherein  Buddha,  in  the  previous  existences  which 
prepared  him  for  his  great  and  holy  mission,  was 
sometimes  a  saint  and  sometimes  a  gambler  and  a 
thief,  is  scarcely  greater,  from  an  ethical  point  of 
view,  than  that  which  evolution  encounters  in  bridg- 
ing the  chasm  between  brute  instinct  and  the  lofty 
ethics  of  the  perfected  man. 

The  lower  grades  of  animal  life  know  no  other  law 
than  the  instinct  which  prompts  them  to  devour  the 
types  which  are  lower  still.  This  destruction  of  the 
weaker  by  the  stronger  pervades  the  whole  brute 
creation ;  it  is  a  life  of  violence  throughout.  On  the 
other  hand,  all  weaker  creatures,  exposed  to  such 
ravages,  protect  themselves  universally  by  deception. 
The  grouse  shields  her  young  from  hawks  or  other 
camivora  by  running  in  the  opposite  direction,  with 
the  assumed  appearance  of  a  broken  wing.  The  flat 
fish,  to  escape  its  mortal  enemies,  lies  upon  the  bot- 
tom of  the  stream,  scarcely  distinguishable  in  color 
*  On  Natural  Selection,  p.  353. 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     305 

or  appearance  from  the  sand  which  constitutes  its 
bed.  Nature  seems  to  aid  and  abet  its  falsehood  by 
the  very  form  which  has  been  assigned  to  it.  And 
so  also  the  gift  of  transparency  helps  the  chameleon 
in  seeming  to  be  a  part  of  the  green  plant,  or  the 
brown  bark,  upon  which  it  lies.  And  Professor 
Drummond,  in  his  interesting  account  of  his  Afri- 
can travels,  describes  certain  insects  which  render 
themselves  indistinguishable  either  in  color  or  in 
form  from  the  branchings  and  exfoliation  of  certain 
grasses  upon  which  they  feed.  Deception  therefore 
becomes  a  chief  resource  of  the  weak,  while  violence 
is  that  of  the  strong.  And  those  which  are  in  the 
middle  of  the  scale  practise  both.  There  are  still 
other  animals  which  are  invested  with  attributes  of 
all  that  is  meanest  and  most  contemptible  in  charac- 
ter. The  sly  and  insinuating  snake  gliding  noise- 
lessly toward  the  victim  of  its  envenomed  sting — the 
spider  which  spreads  forth  its  beautiful  and  alluring 
net,  sparkling  with  morning  dew,  while  it  lurks  in  a 
secret  comer,  ready  to  fall  upon  its  luckless  prey — 
the  sneaking  and  repulsive  hyena,  too  cowardly  to 
attack  the  strong  and  vigorous,  but  waiting  for  the 
crippled,  the  helpless,  the  sick,  and  dying — if  all  these 
are  in  the  school  of  preparation  for  that  noble  stage 
of  manhood  when  truth  and  righteousness  shall  be 
its  crown  of  glory,  then,  where  is  the  turning-point  ? 
Where  do  violence,  meanness,  and  deception  gradu- 
ally beam  forth  into  benevolence  and  truth  ? 

**  The  spider  kills  the  fly.     The  wiser  sphinx 
Stings  the  poor  spider  in  the  centre  nerve, 
Which  paralyzes  only  ;  lays  her  eggs, 
20 


306     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

And  buries  with  them  with  a  loving  care 

The  spider,  powerless  but  still  alive, 

To  warm  them  unto  life,  and  afterward 

To  serve  as  food  among  the  little  ones. 

This  is  the  lesson  nature  has  to  teach, 

*  Woe  to  the  conquered,  victory  to  the  strong.' 

And  so  through  all  the  ages,  step  by  step, 

The  stronger  and  the  craftier  replaced 

The  weaker,  and  increased  and  multiplied. 

And  in  the  end  the  outcome  of  the  strife 

"Was  man,  who  had  dominion  over  all. 

And  preyed  on  all  things,  and  the  stronger  man 

Trampled  his  weaker  brother  under  foot." 

Mr.  John  Fiske  maintains  that  mankind,  during 
the  previous  bestial  period,  were  compelled  like  all 
other  animals  to  maraud  and  destroy,  as  a  part  of 
the  plan  of  natural  selection  in  securing  the  survival 
of  the  fittest ;  the  victories  of  the  strong  over  the 
weak  were  the  steps  and  stages  of  the  animal  creation 
in  its  general  advancement.  And  he  further  states 
that,  even  after  man  had  entered  upon  the  heritage 
of  his  manhood,  it  was  still  for  a  time  the  true  end  of 
his  being  to  maraud  as  before  and  to  despoil  all  men 
whose  weakness  placed  them  in  his  power.  It  was  only 
thus  that  the  steady  improvement  of  the  race  could  be 
secured ;  and  in  that  view  it  was  man's  duty  to  con- 
sult the  dictates  of  selfishness  and  cruelty  rather  than 
those  of  kindness.  To  use  Mr.  Fiske's  own  words,  "  If 
we  could  put  a  moral  interpretation  upon  events  which 
antedated  morality  as  we  trnderstaftd  it,  we  should  say 
it  was  their  duty  to  fight ;  and  the  reverence  accorded 
to  the  chieftain  who  murdered  most  successfully  in 
behaK  of  his  clansmen  was  well  deserved."  ^ 
*  The  Destiny  of  Man,  p.  80. 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     307 

Much  to  the  same  effect  writes  Professor  Leconte. 
"  In  organic  evolution  the  weak,  the  sick,  the  help- 
less, the  unfit  in  anyway,  perish,  and  ovght  to  perish, 
because  this  is  the  most  efficient  way  of  strengthening 
the  blood  or  physical  nature  of  the  species,  and  thus 
of  carrying  forward  evolution.  In  human  evolution 
(which  occurs  at  an  advanced  stage)  the  weak,  the  help- 
less, the  sick,  the  old,  the  unfit  in  anyway,  are  sus- 
tained, and  ought  to  be  sustained,  because  sympathy, 
love,  pity,  strengthen  the  spirit  and  moral  nature  of 
the  race."*  There  is  this  difference,  however,  be- 
tween this  statement  and  that  of  Mr.  Fiske,  that  it 
does  not  indicate  at  what  point  "  human  evolution  " 
begins ;  it  does  not  expressly  declare  that  the  sub- 
ject of  evolution,  even  after  he  has  become  a  man,  is 
still  for  a  time  in  duty  bound  to  fight  in  the  interest 
of  selfishness  and  natural  selection.  Still  he  reverses 
the  "  ought "  as  he  advances  from  organic  to  human 
evolution. 

According  to  both  authors,  when,  in  view  of  new 
environments  and  new  social  requirements,  it  became 
more  advantageous  to  each  individual  man  that  he 
should  cease  to  maraud,  should  learn  to  regard  the 
rights  of  others,  should  respect  the  family  relation, 
and  subordinate  his  selfish  interest  to  the  general 
good ;  then  altruism  dawned  upon  the  world,  moral 
principle  appeared,  and  the  angel  of  benevolence  and 
love  became  enshrined  in  the  human  breast.  Step  by 
step  this  favored  being,  the  ideal  of  natural  selection 
in  all  her  plans,  advanced  to  a  stage  in  which  it  be- 
came incumbent  to  even  subordinate  self  to  the  good 
♦  Evolution  and  its  Relation  to  Religious  TJiought^  p.  88. 


308     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  OKRISTIANITY 

of  others,  not  only  to  spare  the  weak  but  to  tenderly 
care  for  them,  and  even  to  love  those  who  have 
treated  him  with  unkindness  and  abuse.  While  in 
the  early  stages  the  law  of  life  and  progress  had 
been  the  sacrifice  of  others  for  selfish  good  ;  now  the 
crowning  glory  consists  in  seK-sacrifice  for  the  good 
of  all  but  self. 

The  logical  result  of  this  reasoning  cannot  escape 
the  notice  of  any  who  carefully  consider  it.  If,  for 
any  reason,  any  community  of  human  beings  should 
decline  in  moral  and  intellectual  character  until  they 
should  finally  reach  the  original  state  of  savagery,  it 
would  again  become  their  duty  to  lay  aside  all  high 
ethical  claims  as  no  longer  suited  to  their  condition. 
The  extraneous  complications  which  had  grown  out 
of  mere  social  order  having  passed  away,  rectitude 
also  would  pass  away;  benevolence,  philanthropy, 
humanity,  would  be  wholly  out  of  place,  and  how- 
ever lovely  Christian  charity  might  appear  from  a 
sentimental  point  of  view,  it  would  be  ill  adapted  to 
that  condition  of  society.  In  such  a  state  of  things 
the  strong  and  vigorous,  if  sacrificing  themselves  to 
the  weak,  would  only  perpetuate  weakness,  and  it 
would  be  their  duty  rather  to  extirpate  them,  and  by 
the  survival  only  of  the  fittest  to  regain  the  higher 
civilization.  I  state  the  case  in  all  its  naked  deform- 
ity, because  it  shows  the  confusion  and  darkness  of  a 
world  in  which  God  is  not  the  mpral  centre. 

And  here,  as  already  stated,  modem  speculation 
joins  hands  with  the  old  heathen  systems.  Accord- 
ing to  Hindu  as  well  as  Buddhist  philosophy,  this 
retrograde  process  might  not  only  carry  civilized 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     309 

man  back  to  savagery,  but  might  place  him  again 
in  the  category  of  brutes.  If  tendencies  control  all 
things  and  have  no  limit,  why  might  they  not  re- 
mand the  human  being  to  lower  and  lower  forms, 
until  he  should  reach  again  the  status  of  the  mol- 
lusk? 

Now,  over  against  all  the  systems  which  make 
mind  either  a  product  or  a  phenomenon  of  matter, 
we  have  the  Scriptural  doctrine  that  man  was  created 
in  the  image  of  God.  This  fact  explains  the  differ- 
ences which  distinguish  him  from  the  beasts  of  the 
field ;  for  even  in  his  lowest  estate  he  is  amenable 
to  the  principle  of  right  and  wrong.  Paul  taught,  in 
the  first  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Bomans,  that 
when  men  descend  to  the  grade  of  beasts — and  he 
shows  that  they  may  descend  even  below  the  dignity 
of  beasts — so  far  from  becoming  exempt  from  moral 
claims,  they  fall  under  increased  condemnation.  The 
old  Hindu  systems  taught  that  there  can  be  no  re- 
lease from  the  consequences  of  evil  acts.  They 
traced  them  from  one  rebirth  to  another  in  kharma, 
as  modem  speculation  traces  them  physically  in  he- 
redity. The  one  saw  no  relief  except  in  the  changes 
of  endless  transmigrations,  the  other  finds  it  only  in 
the  gradual  readjustment  of  the  nerve-cells.  But 
we  know  by  observation  and  experience  that  the 
spiritual  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  can  transform 
character  at  once.  No  fact  in  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity is  more  firmly  or  more  widely  established 
than  this.  The  nerve-tissues  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding, the  human  soul  may  be  bom  again. 
The  persecuting  Saul  may  become  at  once  a  chief 


310    ORIENTAL    RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

apostle.  The  blaspiiemer,  tlie  sot,  the  debauchee, 
the  murderer,  may  be  transformed  to  a  meek  and 
sincere  Christian.  Millions  of  the  heathen,  with 
thousands  of  years  of  savage  and  bestial  heredity 
behind  them,  have  become  pure  and  loyal  disciples 
of  the  spotless  Eedeemer.  The  fierce  heathen  Afri- 
caner, as  well  as  the  dissolute  Jerry  McCauley,  have 
illustrated  this  transforming  power. 

Professor  Huxley  and  others,  in  our  time,  are  try- 
ing to  elaborate  some  basis  of  ethics  independently 
of  religion.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  these  very  men 
are  living  on  conventional  moral  promptings  and  re- 
straints derived  from  the  Bible.  The  best  basis  of 
morals  yet  known  is  that  of  Christianity,  and  it  is  from 
its  high  and  ennobling  cultus  that  even  the  enemies  of 
the  truth  are  deriving  their  highest  inspiration.  Mr. 
Goldwin  Smith,  in  an  able  article  published  in  the 
Forum  of  April,  1891,  on  the  question,  "  Will  Mo- 
rality Survive  Faith  ?  "  shows  at  least  that  the  best 
ethics  which  the  world  now  has  are  the  outcome  of 
religious  belief  and  of  Christian  belief,  and  he  leads 
the  minds  of  his  readers  to  gravely  doubt  whether  a 
gospel  of  agnostic  evolution  could  ever  produce  those 
forces  of  moral  prompting  and  restraint  which  the 
centuries  of  Christianity  have  developed.  He  does 
not  hesitate  to  assert  that  those  who  hold  and  advo- 
cate the  modem  anti-theistic  speculations  are  them- 
selves living  upon  the  influence  of  a  Christian  cultus 
which  has  survived  their  faith.  A  true  test  of  their 
principles  could  only  be  made  when  a  generation 
should  appear  upon  which  no  influence  of  Christian 
parents  still  remained,  and  in  a  society  in  which 


EASTERN  AND  WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     311 

Christian  sentiment  no  longer  survived.*  It  may  be 
said  that  the  truth  must  be  received  without  regard 
to  the  results  which  may  follow.  This  is  admitted, 
but  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  theories,     K  there  is 

*  Some  of  Goldwin  Smith's  utterances  are  such  as  these  :  *'  If 
morality  has  been  based  on  religion  there  must  be  reason  to  fear 
that  the  foundation  being  removed  the  superstructure  will  fall. 
That  it  has  rested  on  religion  so  far  as  the  great  majority  are  con- 
cerned will  hardly  be  doubted."  .  ,  .  "  The  presence  of  this 
theistic  sanction  has  been  especially  apparent  in  all  acts  and  lives 
of  all  heroic  self-sacrifice  and  self-devotion."  ...  "  All 
moral  philosophers  whose  philosophy  has  been  practically  effec- 
tive, from  Socrates  down,  have  been  religious.  Many  have  tried 
to  find  an  independent  basis  but  have  not  been  successful — at 
least  have  not  arrived  at  any  agreement."  .  .  .  *' Thucydides 
ascribed  the  fall  of  Greece  to  the  fall  of  religion.  Machiavelian- 
ism  followed  the  fall  of  the  Catholic  faith."  ..."  Into  the 
void  left  by  religion  came  spiritual  charlatanry  and  physical  su- 
perstition, such  as  the  arts  of  the  hierophant  of  Isis,  the  sooth- 
sayer, the  astrologer — significant  precursors  of  our  modern  me- 
diums." ...  "  Conscience  as  a  mere  evolution  of  tribal 
experience  may  have  importance,  but  it  can  have  no  authority, 
and  '  Nature  '  is  an  unmeaning  word  without  an  Author  of  nat- 
ure— or  rather  it  is  a  philosophic  name  for  God." 
"  Evolution  is  not  moral,  nor  can  morality  be  educed  from  it.  It 
proclaims  as  its  law  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  the  only  proof 
of  fitness  is  survival."  ...  *'  We  must  remember  that  what- 
ever may  be  our  philosophic  school  we  are  still  living  under  the 
influence  of  theism,  and  most  of  us  under  Christianity.  There  is 
no  saying  how  much  of  Christianity  still  lingers  in  the  theories 
of  agnostics."  .  .  .  *' The  generation  after  the  next  may 
perhaps  see  agnosticism,  moral  as  well  as  religious,  tried  on  a 
clear  field. "  These  utterances  are  weighty,  though  detached. 
We  only  raise  a  doubt  whether  '*the  generation  after  the  next" 
will  see  agnosticism  tried  on  a  clear  field.  On  the  contrary,  it 
will  be  surrounded  as  now,  and  more  and  more,  by  Christian  in- 
fluences, and  will  still  depend  on  those  influences  to  save  it  from 
the  sad  results  of  its  own  teachings. 


312    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

perfect  harmony  between  all  truths  in  the  physical 
and  the  moral  world,  then  all  these  should  have  their 
influence  in  reaching  final  conclusions. 

4.  The  philosophies,  ancient  and  modem,  have 
agreed  in  lowering  the  common  estimate  of  man  as 
man  ;  they  have  exerted  an  influence  the  opposite  of 
that  in  which  the  New  Testament  pleads  for  a  com- 
mon and  an  exalted  brotherhood  of  the  race. 

Hinduism  raised  the  Brahman  almost  to  the  dig- 
nity of  the  gods,  and  debased  the  Sudra  to  a  grade 
but  a  little  higher  than  the  brute.  Buddha  declared 
that  his  teachings  were  for  the  wise,  and  not  for  the 
simple.  The  philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome,  even 
the  best  of  them,  regarded  the  helot  and  the  slave 
as  of  an  inferior  grade  of  beings — even  though  occa- 
sionally a  slave  by  his  superior  force  rose  to  a  high 
degree.  In  like  manner  the  whole  tendency  of  mod- 
em evolution  is  to  degrade  the  dignity  and  sacred- 
ness  of  humanity.  It  is  searching  for  "  missing 
links  ;  "  it  measures  the  skulls  of  degraded  races  for 
proofs  of  its  theories.  It  has  travellers  and  adven- 
turers on  the  lookout  for  tribes  who  have  no  concep- 
tion of  God,  and  no  religious  rites  ;  it  searches  caves 
and  dredges  lakes  for  historical  traces  of  man  when 
he  had  but  recently  learned  to  "  stand  upright  upon 
his  hind  legs."  The  lower  the  types  that  can  be 
found,  the  more  valuable  are  they  for  the  pur- 
poses required.  All  this  tends  to  the  dishonoring 
of  the  inferior  types  of  men.  Wherever  Christianity 
had  changed  the  old  estimates  of  the  philosophers, 
and  had  led  to  the  nobler  sentiment  that  God  had 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  and  races,  and  had 


EASTEBN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     313 

stamped  His  own  image  on  them  all,  and  even  re- 
deemed them  all  by  the  sacrifice  of  His  Son,  the 
speculations  of  sceptical  biology  have  in  a  measure 
counteracted  its  benign  influence.  They  have  fos- 
tered the  contempt  of  various  classes  for  a  dark  skin 
or  an  inferior  civilization.  They  indirectly  encour- 
age those  who,  with  little  merit  of  their  own,  speak 
contemptuously  of  the  "  Buck  Indian,"  "  the  Nig- 
ger," the  "Heathen  Chinee."  They  encourage  the 
"  hoodlum,"  and  so  far  as  they  have  any  influence, 
give  an  implied  sanction  to  much  unrighteous  legis- 
lation. 

Even  Peschel,  who  will  not  be  suspected  of  any 
bias  toward  Christianity,  has  said  on  this  subject : 
"  This  dark  side  of  the  life  of  uncivilized  nations  has 
induced  barbarous  and  inhuman  settlers  in  trans- 
oceanic regions  to  assume  as  their  own  a  right  to 
cultivate  as  their  own  the  inheritance  of  the  aborig- 
ines, and  to  extol  the  murder  of  races  as  a  triumph 
of  civilization.  Other  writers,  led  away  by  Dar- 
winian dogmas,  fancied  that  they  had  discovered 
populations  which  had,  as  it  were,  remained  in  a 
former  animal  condition  for  the  instruction  of  our 
times."  And  he  adds :  "  Thus  in  the  words  of  a 
*  History  of  Creation,'  in  the  taste  now  prevalent,  *  in 
Southern  Asia  and  the  East  of  Africa  men  live  in 
hordes,  mostly  climbing  trees  and  eating  fruit,  unac- 
quainted with  fire,  and  using  no  weapons  but  stones 
and  clubs,  after  the  manner  of  the  higher  apes.' 
It  can  be  shown,"  he  continues,  "  that  these  state- 
ments are  derived  from  the  writings  of  a  learned 
scholar  of  Bonn  on  the  condition  of  savage  nations, 


314     ORIENTAL  RELiaiONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

the  facts  of  wliicli  are  based  either  on  the  depo- 
sitions of  an  African  slave  of  the  Doko  tribe,  a 
dwarfish  people  in  the  south  of  Shoa,  or  on  the  as- 
sertions of  Bengalese  planters,  or  perhaps  on  the 
observations  of  a  sporting  adventurer,  that  a  mother 
and  daughter,  and  at  another  time  a  man  and  woman, 
were  found  in  India  in  a  semi-animal  condition.  On 
the  other  hand,  not  only  have  neither  nations,  nor 
even  hordes,  in  an  ape-like  condition  ever  been  en- 
countered by  any  trustworthy  traveller  of  modem 
times,  but  even  those  races  which  in  the  first  super- 
ficial descriptions  were  ranked  far  below  our  grade 
of  civilization  have,  on  nearer  acquaintance,  been 
placed  much  nearer  the  civilized  nations.  No  por- 
tion of  the  human  race  has  yet  been  discovered 
which  does  not  possess  a  more  or  less  rich  vocabu- 
lary, rules  of  language,  artificially  pointed  weapons, 
and  various  implements,  as  well  as  the  art  of  kind- 
ling fire.*  " 

The  assertion  has  been  made  again  and  again  that 
races  are  found  which  are  possessed  of  no  knowledge 
or  conception  of  Deity,  but  this  assumption  has  been 
thoroughly  refuted  by  Max  Miiller  and  many  others. 

There  is  a  very  general  assumption  abroad  in  the 
world  that  bigotry  and  even  bias  of  judgment  belong 
exclusively  to  the  advocates  of  religious  truth,  and 
that  the  teachers  of  agnostic  science  are,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  impartial  and  therefore  authori- 
tative. But  the  generalizations  which  have  been 
massed  by  non-Christian  anthropologists  and  socio- 
logists are  often  gleaned  and  culled  under  the  strong- 
*  Ths  Races  of  Man,  pp.  137,  138. 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSbPHIES     315 

est  subserviency  to  some  favorite  hypothesis,  and 
that  on  the  most  superficial  observation  and  from 
the  most  unreliable  authorities.  De  Quatrefages,  an 
anthropologist  of  profound  learning,  and  certainly 
with  no  predilections  for  Christian  theism,  in  speaJi- 
ing  of  the  alleged  evidences  given  by  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock and  Saint-Hilaire  to  show  that  many  races  of 
men  have  been  found  destitute  of  any  conception  of 
Deity,  says  :  "  When  the  writers  against  whom  I  am 
now  arguing  have  to  choose  between  two  evidences, 
the  one  attesting,  and  the  other  denying,  the  exist- 
ence of  religious  belief  in  a  population,  it  is  always 
the  latter  which  they  seem  to  think  should  be  ac- 
cepted. More  often  than  not,  they  do  not  even  men- 
tion the  contrary  evidences,  however  definite,  how- 
ever authentic  they  may  be.  Now,  it  is  evidently 
much  easier  not  to  see  than  to  discover  that  which 
may  be  in  so  many  ways  rendered  inappreciable  to 
our  eyes.  When  a  traveller  states  that  he  has  proved 
the  existence  of  religious  sentiments  in  a  population 
which  by  others  has  been  declared  destitute  of  them, 
when  he  gives  precise  details  upon  such  a  delicate 
question,  he  has  unquestionably  at  least  probability 
in  his  favor.  I  see  nothing  to  authorize  this  rejec- 
tion of  positive  evidence  and  unconditional  acceptance 
of  negative  evidence.  This,  however,  is  too  often  the 
case.  I  might  justify  this  imputation  by  taking  one 
by  one  almost  all  the  examples  of  so-called  atheist 
populations  pointed  out  by  different  authors."  *  De 
Quatrefages  then  proceeds  to  show  how,  with  respect 
to  American  tribes,  Eobertson  is  quoted  while  D'Or- 
*  The  Burmn  Species,  p.  478. 


316     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

bigny  is  passed  in  silence,  even  though  he  has  by  the 
testimony  of  many  authors  disproved  the  statements 
of  Eobertson ;  how  Baegert's  negative  and  sweeping 
statements  in  regard  to  the  California  tribes  are  ac- 
cepted, while  the  very  specific  testimony  of  De  Mofras 
in  regard  both  to  the  fact  and  to  the  nature  of  their 
worship  is  rejected.  In  relation  to  the  Mincopies, 
Mouat  (negative)  is  adopted  against  Symes  and  Day. 
The  Hottentots  are  adjudged  atheistic  on  the  testi- 
mony of  Le  Yaillant,  in  spite  of  the  united  witness  of 
Kolben,  Saar,  Tachard,  Boeving,  and  Campbell.  The 
Kaffirs  are  declared  to  be  destitute  of  religion  on  the 
statements  of  Burchel,  while  Livingstone  and  Caza- 
lis  have  given  clear  accounts  of  the  religion  of  the 
different  Kaffir  tribes. 

In  a  similar  manner  Professor  Flint,  of  Edinburgh, 
arraigns  Sir  John  Lubbock  and  certain  other  advo- 
cates of  the  atheistic  theory  concerning  savage  tribes, 
for  the  partiality  of  their  selection  of  testimony  and 
for  the  superficial  evidence  which  they  accept  when 
favorable  to  their  theories.  After  reviewing  Lub- 
bock's wholesale  quotations  concerning  the  Indian 
tribes  of  Brazil,  he  says,  "  These  are  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock's instances  from  South  American  tribes.  But 
I  find  that  they  are  all  either  erroneous  or  insuffi- 
ciently established."  And  he  gives  many  counter- 
proofs.  "  It  will  never  do,"  he  says,  "  to  believe  such 
sweeping  statements — sweeping  negatives — merely 
because  they  happen  to  be  printed."  Farther  on  he 
adds :  "  But  I  think  that  he  (Lubbock)  might  have 
told  us  that  Humboldt,  whose  travels  in  South 
America  were  so  extensive,  whose  explorations  were 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     317 

SO  varied,  scientific,  and  successful,  and  who  certainly 
was  uninfluenced  by  traditional  theological  beliefs, 
found  no  tribes  and  peoples  without  a  religion ;  and 
that  Prince  Max  von  Neuwied  tells  us  that  in  all  his 
many  and  wide  wanderings  in  Brazil  he  had  found 
no  tribes  the  members  of  which  did  not  give  mani- 
fest signs  of  religious  feelings." 

In  the  appendix  of  the  book  from  which  these 
extracts  are  made.  Professor  Flint  says :  "No  one,  I 
think,  who  has  not  a  theory  to  maintain  can  consider 
the  circumstances  in  which  most  of  the  Brazilian  In- 
dian tribes  are  placed  without  coming  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  they  must  have  sunk  from  a  higher  intel- 
lectual and  religious  level." 

I  have  dwelt  at  length  upon  these  arraignments  of 
the  careless  and  biased  utterances  of  supposed  sci- 
entists, because  it  is  so  much  the  fashion  of  our 
times  to  support  certain  theories  of  anthropology 
by  massing  the  supposed  evidences  of  man's  degra- 
dation found,  even  now,  in  the  environments  of  sav- 
age life.  Many  readers,  apparently  dazed  by  the  vast 
accumulation  of  indiscriminate  and  heterogeneous 
statements  which  they  have  no  time  to  examine, 
yield  an  easy  and  blind  assent,  based  either  on  the 
supposed  wisdom  of  the  writer  or  upon  the  fact  that 
so  many  others  believe,  and  they  imagine  that  no 
little  courage  is  required  on  their  part  to  risk  the 
loss  of  intellectual  caste.  A  vast  amount  of  the 
thinking  of  our  age,  although  it  claims  to  be  scientific, 
is  really  a  matter  of  simple  faith — faith  in  the  opin- 
ions and  dicta  of  distinguished  leaders.  And  under 
such  circumstances,  is  it  not  our  privilege  and  our 


318     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

duty  as  Christian  men  to  at  least  challenge  and  cross- 
question  those  theories  which  depress  and  dishonor 
our  common  humanity  before  we  yield  them  our  as- 
sent? 

The  majority  of  scientists  now  so  confidently  as- 
sume the  certain  derivation  of  man  from  lower  orders 
of  life,  that,  as  Max  Miiller  has  expressed  it,  their 
intolerance  greets  "  with  a  perfect  howl  of  derision  a 
man  like  Yirchow,"  who  dares  to  declare  that  proof 
of  man's  derivation  from  animals  is  still  wanting. 
Nevertheless  Yirchow,  himseK  an  evolutionist,  main- 
tains his  ground,  as  the  following  passage  quoted 
some  months  since  from  The  London  Tablet  will 
show  : 

"  Some  sensation  has  been  caused  at  the  recent 
Anthropological  Congress  in  Vienna  by  the  speech 
of  the  great  Berlin  biologist.  Professor  Yirchow. 
About  a  year  ago  Yirchow,  on  a  similar  occasion, 
made  a  severe  attack  on  the  Darwinian  position,  and 
this  year  he  is  similarly  outspoken.  We  make  the 
following  extracts  from  his  long  address  to  the  Con- 
gress: 

"  *  Twenty  years  ago,  when  we  met  at  Innspruck,  it 
was  precisely  the  moment  when  the  Darwinian  the- 
ory had  made  its  first  victorious  mark  throughout 
the  world.  My  friend  Yogt  at  once  rushed  into  the 
ranks  of  the  champions  of  this  doctrine.  We  have 
since  sought  in  vain  for  the  ijitermediate  stages 
which  were  supposed  to  connect  man  with  the  apes ; 
the  proto-man,  the  pro-anthropos  is  not  yet  discov- 
ered. For  anthropological  science  the  pro-anthropos 
is  not  even  a  subject  of  discussion.     The  anthropol- 


EASTERN'  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     319 

ogist  may,  perhaps,  see  him  in  a  dream,  but  as  soon 
as  he  awakes  he  cannot  say  that  he  has  made  any  ap- 
proach toward  him.  At  that  time  in  Innspruck  the 
prospect  was,  apparently,  that  the  course  of  descent 
from  ape  to  man  would  be  reconstructed  all  at  once, 
but  now  we  cannot  even  prove  the  descent  of  the 
separate  races  from  one  another.^  At  this  moment 
we  are  able  to  say  that  among  the  peoples  of  antiq- 
uity no  single  one  was  any  nearer  to  the  apes  than 
we  are.  At  this  moment  I  can  affirm  that  there  is 
not  upon  earth  any  absolutely  unknown  race  of  men. 
The  least  known  of  all  are  the  peoples  of  the  central 
mountainous  districts  of  the  Malay  peninsula,  but 
otherwise  we  know  the  people  of  Terra  del  Fuego 
quite  as  well  as  the  Eskimo,  Bashkirs,  Polynesians, 
and  Lapps.  Nay  !  we  know  more  of  many  of  these 
races  than  we  do  of  certain  European  tribes.  I  need 
only  mention  the  Albanians.  Every  living  race  is 
still  human ;  no  single  one  has  yet  been  found  that 
we  can  designate  as  Simian  or  quasi-Simian.  Even 
when  in  certain  ones  phenomena  appear  which  are 
characteristic  of  the  apes — e.g.,  the  peculiar  ape-like 
projections  of  the  skull  in  certain  races — still  we  can- 
not on  that  account  alone  say  that  these  men  are 
ape-like.  As  regards  the  Lake  dwellings,  I  have 
been  able  to  submit  to  comparative  examination 
nearly  every  single  skull  that  has  been  foimd.     The 

*  Mr.  John  Fiske  declares  that  man  is  descended  from  the 
catarrhine  apes. — Destiny  of  Man,  p.  19.  Professor  Le  Conte 
maintains  that  no  existing  animal  could  ever  be  developed  into 
man.  He  traces  all  existing  species  up  from  a  common  stock,  of 
which  man  is  the  head.  The  common  line  of  ancestors  are  all 
extinct. — Ecolution  in  Relation  to  Religious  Thought,  p.  90. 


320    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

result  has  been  tliat  we  have  certainly  met  with  op- 
posite characteristics  among  various  races;  but  of 
all  these  there  is  not  one  that  lies  outside  of  the 
boundaries  of  our  present  population.  It  can  thus 
be  positively  demonstrated  that  in  the  course  of  five 
thousand  years  no  change  of  type  worthy  of  mention 
has  taken  place.  If  you  ask  me  whether  the  first 
man  were  white  or  black,  I  can  only  say  I  don't 
know.' 

"  Professor  Virchow  thus  simamed  up  the  question 
as  to  what  anthropological  science  during  the  last 
forty  years  has  gained,  and  whether,  as  many  con- 
tend, it  has  gone  forward  or  backward. 

"  *  Twenty  years  ago  the  leaders  of  our  science  as- 
serted that  they  knew  many  things  which,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  they  did  not  know.  Nowadays  we  know 
what  we  know.  I  can  only  reckon  up  our  account 
in  so  far  as  to  say  that  we  have  made  no  debts ;  that 
is,  we  have  made  no  loan  from  hypotheses ;  we  are 
in  no  danger  of  seeing  that  which  we  know  over- 
turned in  the  course  of  the  next  moment.  We  have 
levelled  the  ground  so  that  the  coming  generation 
may  make  abundant  use  of  the  material  at  their  dis- 
position. As  an  attainable  objective  of  the  next 
twenty  years,  we  must  look  to  the  anthropology  of 
the  European  nationalities.' " 

5.  Another  demoralizing  type  of  speculation  which 
has  exerted  a  wide  influence  in. many  ages  and  on 
many  nations  is  pantheism.  By  abdicating  the  place 
and  function  of  the  conscious  ego,  by  making  all 
things  mere  specialized  expressions  of  infinite  De- 
ity,  and  yet  failing  to  grasp  any  clear  conception 


EASTERN  AND  WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     321 

of  what  is  meant  by  Deity,  men  have  gradually  de- 
stroyed that  sense  of  moral  responsibility  which  the 
most  savage  show  to  have  been  a  common  heritage. 
It  is  not  among  the  lowest  and  most  simple  races 
that  missionaries  find  the  greatest  degree  of  obtuse- 
ness  and  insensibility  with  respect  to  sin;  it  is 
among  populations  like  those  of  India,  where  the 
natural  promptings  of  conscience  have  been  sophis- 
ticated by  philosophic  theories.  The  old  Yedantism, 
by  representing  all  things  as  mere  phenomenal  ex- 
pressions of  infinite  Brahm,  tended  necessarily  to 
destroy  all  sense  of  personal  responsibility.  The 
abdication  of  the  personal  ego  is  an  easy  way  of 
shifting  the  burden  of  guilt.  The  late  Naryan  She- 
shadri  declared  that  one  thing  which  led  him  to  re- 
nounce Hinduism  was  the  fact  that,  when  he  came 
to  trace  its  underlying  principles  to  their  last  logical 
result  he  saw  no  ground  of  moral  responsibility  left. 
It  plunged  him  into  an  abyss  of  intellectual  and 
moral  darkness  without  chart  or  compass.  It  para- 
lyzed conscience  and  moral  sensibility. 

It  is  equally  impossible  to  reason  ourselves  into 
any  consciousness  of  merit  or  demerit,  if  we  are 
moved  only  by  some  vague  law  of  nature  whose  be- 
hest, as  described  by  Mr.  Buckle,  we  cannot  resist, 
whose  operations  within  us  we  cannot  discern,  and 
whose  drift  or  tendency  we  cannot  foresee.  It  makes 
little  difference  whether  we  build  our  faith  upon  the 
god  of  pantheism  or  upon  the  unknowable  but  im- 
personal force  which  is  supposed  to  move  the  world, 
which  operates  in  the  same  ways  upon  all  grades  of 
existence  from  the  archangel  to  the  mote  in  the  sun- 
Si 


322    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

beam,  which  moves  the  molecules  of  the  human  brain 
only  as  it  stirs  the  globules  of  sap  in  the  tree  or  plant. 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how,  upon  any  such  hypothesis, 
we  are  any  more  responsible  for  our  volitions  and 
affections  than  we  are  for  our  heart-beats  or  respira- 
tions. And  yet  we  are  conscious  of  responsibility  in 
the  one  case  and  not  in  the  other.  Consciousness 
comes  in  with  tremendous  force  at  just  this  point,  all 
theories  and  speculations  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. And  we  dare  not  disregard  its  testimony 
or  its  claims.  We  know  that  we  are  morally  respon- 
sible. 

6.  Many  philosophic  systems,  ancient  and  mod- 
em, have  tended  to  fill  the  world  with  gloomy  pessi- 
mism. Pessimism  is  very  old  and  very  widespread. 
Schopenhauer  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  Gau- 
tama for  much  of  the  philosophy  which  is  known  by 
his  name.  In  Hinduism  and  Buddhism,  as  well  as 
in  the  teachings  of  the  German  pessimists,  the  nat- 
ural complainings  of  the  human  heart  are  organized 
into  philosophical  systems.  There  is  in  all  human 
nature  quite  enough  of  querulousness  against  the  un- 
equal allotments  of  Providence,  but  all  these  systems 
inculcate  and  foster  that  discontent  by  the  sanctions 
of  philosophy.  The  whole  assumption  of  "  The 
Light  of  Asia  "  is  that  the  power  that  upholds  and 
governs  the  world  is  a  hard  master,  from  whose  leash 
we  should  escape  if  we  can  by  annihilating  our  pow- 
ers and  faculties,  and  abdicating  our  conscious  being ; 
that  the  world  and  the  entire  constitution  of  things 
are  all  wrong  ;  that  misery  is  everywhere  in  the  as- 
cendant, and  that  man  and  beast  can  only  make  com- 


BASfERlfr  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     323 

mon  cause  against  the  tyranny  of  a  reckless  fate,  and 
cry  out  with  common  voice  for  some  sympathizing 
benefactor  who  can  pity  and  deliver.  There  is  no 
hint  that  sin  has  wrought  the  evil.  Man  is  not 
so  much  a  sinner  as  the  victim  of  a  hard  lot;  he 
is  imfortunate,  and  it  is  the  world  that  is  wrong. 
Therefore  the  true  end  of  life  is  to  get  rid  of  the  re- 
currence of  life. 

In  much  of  our  modem  agnosticism  there  is  the 
same  dark  outlook,  and  agnosticism  naturally  joins 
hands  with  pessimism.  Dr.  Noah  Porter,  in  one  of 
the  series  of  "  Present-Day  Tracts,"  has  shown  it  to 
be  a  doctrine  of  despair.  A  well-known  lecturer  who 
has  loudly  declaimed  against  what  he  considers  the 
remorseless  character  of  the  Old  Testament,  has  2jc- 
knowledged  that  it  is  not  more  cruel  than  nature; 
that  in  the  actual  world  about  us  we  find  the  same 
dark  mystery,  the  weak  perishing  before  the  strong, 
the  wicked  prosperous,  the  just  oppressed,  and  the 
innocent  given  as  a  prey  to  the  guilty  ;  and  his  con- 
clusion is  that  deism  is  no  more  defensible  than 
Christianity.  His  pessimistic  estimate  of  the  actual 
world  drives  him  to  a  disbelief  in  a  personal  God. 

We  do  not  ignore  the  sad  facts  of  life ;  even  the 
Christian  is  often  saddened  by  the  mysteries  which 
he  cannot  explain.  Bishop  J.  Boyd  Carpenter,  in 
speaking  of  the  sad  and  cheerless  spirit  of  Buddhism, 
has  said :  "  There  are  moments  in  which  we  are  all 
Buddhists ;  when  life  has  disappointed  us,  when 
weariness  is  upon  us,  when  the  keen  anguish  bom  of 
the  sight  of  human  suffering  appals  and  benumbs 
us,  when  we  are  frozen  to  terror,  and  our  man- 


324     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

hood  flies  at  the  sight  of  the  Medusa-like  head  of 
the  world's  unappeased  and  unappeasable  agony ; 
then  we  too  are  torn  by  the  paroxysm  of  anguish ; 
we  would  flee  to  the  Nirvana  of  oblivion  and  uncon- 
sciousness, turning  our  back  upon  what  we  cannot 
alleviate,  and  longing  to  lay  down  the  burden  of  life, 
and  to  escape  from  that  which  has  become  insup- 
portable." *  But  these  are  only  the  dark  and  seem- 
ingly forsaken  hours  in  which  men  sit  in  despair 
beneath  the  juniper-tree  and  imagine  that  all  the 
world  has  gone  wrong.  The  juniper-tree  in  Chris- 
tianity is  the  exception ;  the  Bo-tree  of  Buddhism, 
with  the  same  despondent  estimate,  is  the  rule.  No 
divine  message  came  to  show  the  Buddha  a  brighter 
side.  And  the  agnostic  stops  his  ears  that  no  voice 
of  cheer  may  be  heard.  The  whole  philosophy  of 
Buddhism  and  of  modem  agnosticism  is  pessimistic. 
The  word  and  Spirit  of  God  do  not  deny  the  sad 
facts  of  human  life  in  a  world  of  sin,  but  they  ena- 
ble the  Christian  to  triumph  over  them,  and  even  to 
rejoice  in  tribulation. 

7.  And  this  leads  to  one  more  common  feature  of 
all  false  systems,  their  fatalism.  Among  the  exag- 
gerated claims  which  are  made  for  heathen  religions 
in  our  day,  it  is  alleged  that  they  rest  upon  a  more 
humane  philosophy  than  appears  in  the  grim  fatal- 
ism of  our  Christian  theology,  especially  that  of  the 
Calvinistic  type.  Without  entering  upon  any  de- 
fence of  Christian  doctrines  of  one  type  or  another, 
it  would  be  easy  to  show  that  fatalism,  complete  and 
unmitigated,  is  at  the  foundation  of  all  Oriental  re- 
*  The  Permanent  Elements  in  Religion,  p.  154 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     325 

ligion  and  philosophy,  all  ancient  or  modem  panthe- 
ism, and  most  of  the  various  types  of  agnosticism. 
While  this  has  been  the  point  at  which  all  infidel  sys- 
tems have  assailed  the  Christian  faith,  it  has  never- 
theless been  the  goal  which  they  have  all  reached  by 
their  own  speculations.  They  have  differed  from 
Christianity  in  that  their  predestinating,  determin- 
ing force,  instead  of  being  qualified  by  any  play  of 
free-will,  or  any  feasible  plan  of  ultimate  and  super- 
abounding  good,  has  been  a  real  fatalism,  changeless, 
hopeless,  remorseless.  That  the  distaff  of  the  Fates, 
and  the  ruthless  sceptre  of  the  Erinnys,  entered  in 
full  force  into  all  the  religions  of  the  Greeks  and 
Eomans,  scarcely  needs  to  be  affirmed.  They  con- 
trolled all  human  affairs,  and  even  the  gods  were 
subject  to  them.  The  Sagas  of  the  Northmen  also 
were  full  of  fatalism,  and  that  principle  still  survives 
in  the  folk-lore  and  common  superstitions  of  all 
Scandinavian,  Teutonic,  and  Celtic  races. 

The  fatalism  of  the  Hindus  is  plainly  stated  in  the 
"  Code  of  Manu,"  which  declares  that,  "  in  order  to 
distinguish  actions,  he  (the  creator)  separated  merit 
from  demerit.  To  whatever  course  of  action  the 
Lord  appointed  each  kind  of  being,  that  alone  it  has 
spontaneously  adopted  in  each  succeeding  creation. 
Whatever  he  has  assigned  to  each  at  the  first  crea- 
tion, noxiousness  or  harmlessness,  gentleness  or  fe- 
rocity, virtue  or  sin,  truth  or  falsehood,  that  clings 
to  it."  *  The  same  doctrine  is  put  in  still  more  of- 
fensive form  when  it  is  declared  that  "  Manu  (here 
used  in  the  sense  of  creator)  allotted  to  woman  a 
•Book  II.,  13. 


326     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

love  of  her  bed,  of  her  seat,  of  ornament,  also  impure 
desires,  wrath,  dishonesty,  and  bad  conduct."  ^  There 
would  be  some  relief  from  this  horrible  doctrine  if 
in  subsequent  chapters  of  Manu  there  were  kindly 
tokens  of  grace,  or  sympathy  for  woman,  or  any  light 
of  hope  here  or  hereafter ;  but  the  whole  teaching 
and  spirit  of  the  "  Code"  rests  as  an  iron  yoke  upon 
womanhood,  and  it  is  largely  a  result  of  this  high 
authority  that  the  female  sex  has  for  ages  been  sub- 
jected to  the  most  cruel  tyranny  and  degradation. 
It  might  well  be  said  that,  in  spite  of  the  horrors  of 
infanticide,  the  most  merciful  element  of  Hinduism 
with  respect  to  woman  is  the  custom  by  which  so 
large  a  proportion  of  female  children  have  been  de- 
stroyed at  birth.  The  same  fatalistic  principles  af- 
fect all  ranks  and  conditions  of  Hindu  society.  The 
poor  Sudra  is  not  only  low-bom  and  degraded,  but 
he  is  immovably  fixed  in  his  degradation.  He  is  cut 
off  from  all  hope  or  aspiration  ;  he  cannot  rise  from 
the  thraldom  of  his  fate.  In  the  Bhagavad  Gita, 
Krishna  declares  to  Arjuna  that  it  is 

"  Better  to  do  the  duty  of  one's  caste 
Though  bad  or  ill  performed,  and  fraught  with  evil, 
Than  undertake  the  business  of  another, 
However  good  it  be." 

Thus  even  the  laws  of  right  and  wrong  are  subordi- 
nate to  the  fatality  of  caste,  and  all  aspiration  is  para- 
lyzed. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  acknowledged  re- 
peatedly that  the  sternest  type  of  Puritan  theology, 
♦Book  IX.,  17. 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     327 

as  a  moral  and  political  force,  is  full  of  inspiration  ; 
it  does  not  deaden  the  soul ;  it  stimulates  the  action 
of  free-will ;  its  moral  earnestness  has  been  a  great 
power  in  molding  national  destinies.  Mr.  Bancroft 
has  not  hesitated  to  declare  that  the  great  charters 
of  human  liberty  are  largely  due  to  its  strong  con- 
ception of  a  divine  and  all-controlling  purpose. 
Even  Matthew  Arnold  admitted  that  its  stem  "  He- 
braic "  culture,  as  he  called  it,  had  wrought  some  of 
the  grandest  achievements  of  history.  But  Hindu 
fatalists,  noble  Aryans  as  they  were  at  first,  have 
been  conquered  by  every  race  of  invaders  that  has 
chosen  to  assail  them.  And  no  better  result  could 
have  been  expected  from  a  philosophy  whose  sum- 
mum  honum  is  the  renunciation  of  life  as  not  worth 
living,  and  the  loss  of  all  personality  by  absorption 
into  the  One  supreme  existence. 

Buddhism  does  not  present  the  same  fatalistic  the- 
ory of  creation  as  Brahminism,  but  it  introduces  even 
a  more  aggravated  fatalism  into  human  life.  Both 
alike  load  down  the  newly-born  with  burdens  of  guilt 
and  consequent  suffering  transmitted  from  previous 
existences.  But  in  the  case  of  Buddhism  there  is  no 
identity  between  the  sinner,  who  incurred  the  guilt, 
and  the  recipient  of  the  evil  kharma,  which  demands 
punishment.  Every  man  comes  into  the  world  en- 
tangled in  the  moral  bankruptcy  of  some  one  who 
has  gone  before,  he  knows  not  who  nor  where.  There 
is  no  consciousness  of  identity,  no  remembrance,  no 
possible  sense  of  guilt,  or  notion  of  responsibility. 
It  is  not  the  same  soul  that  suffers,  for  in  either  case 
there  is  no  soul ;  there  is  only  a  bundle  of  so-called 


328    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CRRI&riANITT 

skandhas — certain  faculties  of  mind  and  liody  newly 
combined  whose  interaction  produces  tli  ought  and 
emotion.  Yet  there  is  conscious  suffering.  Scoffers 
have  long  pointed  with  indignation  at  the  Christian 
doctrine  that  a  child  inherits  a  moral  bias  from  his 
parents,  but  nowadays  evolutionists  cairy  the  law 
of  heredity  to  an  extreme  which  no  hyp^r-Calvinist 
ever  thought  of,  and  many  cavillers  at  "  original  sin  " 
have  become  eloquent  in  their  praises  of  Buddhism, 
which  handicaps  each  child  with  the  accumulated 
demerit  of  pre-existent  beings  with  whom  he  had  no 
connection  whatever.*  The  Christian  doctrine  im- 
putes punishable  guilt  only  so  far  as  each  one's  freo 
choice  makes  the  sin  his  own  :  the  dying  infant  who 
has  no  choice  is  saved  by  grace ;  but  upon  every 
Buddhist,  however  short-lived,  there  rests  an  heir- 
loom of  destiny  which  countless  transmigrations  can- 
not discharge. 

In  Mohammedanism  the  doctrine  of  fate — clear,  ex- 
press, and  emphatic — is  fully  set  forth.  The  Koran 
resorts  to  no  euphemism  or  circumlocution  in  declar- 
ing it.  Thus,  in  Sura  Ixxiv.  3,  4,  we  read :  "  Thus 
doth  God  cause  to  err  whom  he  pleases,  and  direct- 
eth  whom  he  pleases."  Again,  Sura  xx.  4,  says :  "  The 
fate  of  every  man  have  we  bound  round  his  neck." 
As  is  well  known,  fatalism  as  a  practical  doctrine  of 
life  has  passed  into  all  Mohammedan  society.    "Kis- 

*  Development  by  "heredity"  and  the  Buddhist  doctrine  of 
transmigration,  though  both  fatalistic,  reach  that  result  in  differ- 
ent ways  ;  they  are,  in  fact,  contradictory.  Character,  according 
to  Buddhism,  is  inherited  not  from  parents :  it  follows  the  line  of 
affinity. 


EA8TEBN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     329 

met "  (it  is  fated)  is  the  exclamation  of  despair  with 
which  a  Moslem  succumbs  to  adversity  and  often 
dies  without  an  ejffort  to  recover.  In  times  of  pesti- 
lence missionaries  in  Syria  have  sometimes  found 
whole  villages  paralyzed  with  despair.  Yielding  to 
the  fatalism  of  their  creed,  the  poor  mountaineers 
have  abandoned  all  means  of  cure  and  resigned 
themselves  to  their  fate.  The  same  fatal  paralysis 
has  affected  all  liberty  of  thought,  all  inventiveness 
and  enterprise,  all  reform  of  evils,  all  higher  aspira- 
tion of  the  oppressed  people. 

With  the  lower  forms  of  religious  belief,  fetishism, 
animism,  serpent  worship,  demon  worship,  the  case 
is  still  worse.  The  only  deities  that  are  practically 
recognized  in  these  rude  faiths  are  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  malevolent  beings,  who  have  not  only 
fixed  an  evil  fate  upon  men,  but  whose  active  and 
continued  function  it  is  to  torment  them.  Though 
there  is  a  lingering  belief  in  a  Supreme  Being  who 
created  all  things,  yet  he  is  far  off  and  incomprehen- 
sible. He  has  left  his  creatures  in  the  hands  of  in- 
ferior deities,  at  whose  mercy  they  pass  a  miserable 
existence.  Looking  at  the  dark  facts  of  life  and  hav- 
ing no  revelation  of  a  merciful  God  they  form  their 
estimates  of  Deity  from  their  trials,  hardships,  fears, 
and  they  are  filled  with  dread;  all  their  religious 
rites  have  been  devised  for  appeasing  the  powers 
that  dominate  and  distress  the  world.  And  yet  a 
pronounced  agnostic  has  asked  us  to  believe  that  even 
this  wide-spread  hon*or,  this  universal  nightmare  of 
heathen  superstition,  is  more  humane  than  the  Cal- 
vinistic  creed. 


330     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

If  we  inquire  into  tlie  tendency  of  all  types  of  an- 
cient or  modem  pantheism  in  this  particular  phase, 
we  shall  find  them,  without  exception,  fatalistic. 
They  not  merely  make  God  the  author  of  sin — they 
make  Him  the  sinner.  Our  misdeeds  are  not  our 
acts,  but  God's.  Thus  the  vaunted  Bhagavad  Gita, 
uniting  the  Sankhyan  and  the  Yedanta  philosophies, 
makes  Krishna  say  to  Arjima :  "  All  actions  are  in- 
cessantly performed  by  operation  of  the  qualities  of 
Prakriti  (the  seK  -  existing  Essence).  Deluded  by 
the  thought  of  individuality,  the  soul  vainly  believes 
itself  to  be  the  doer.  The  soul,  existing  from  eter- 
nity, devoid  of  qualities,  imperishable,  abiding  in 
the  body,  acts  not,  nor  is  by  any  act  polluted.  He 
who  sees  that  actions  are  performed  by  Prakriti 
alone,  and  that  the  soul  is  not  an  actor,  perceives 
the  truth."  ^  Such  is  Hindu  pantheism.  Yet  this 
most  inconsistent  system  charges  maa  with  guilt. 
It  represents  his  inexorable  fate  as  pursuing  him 
through  endless  transmigrations,  holding  over  him 
the  lash  of  retribution,  while  it  exacts  the  very  last 
farthing.  Still,  from  first  to  last,  it  is  not  he  that 
acts,  but  some  fractional  part  of  the  One  only  Exist- 
ence which  fills  all  space. 

The  philosophy  of  Spinoza  was  quite  as  fatalistic 
as  the  Hindu  Yedanta.  He  taught,  according  to 
Schwegler,  that  "  The  finite  has  no  independent  ex- 
istence in  itseK :  it  exists  because  the  um-estrained 
productive  energy  of  the  (infinite)  Substance  spon- 
taneously produced  an  infinite  variety  of  particular 
forms.  It  has,  however,  no  proper  reality ;  it  exists 
*  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  152. 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     331 

only  in  and  through  the  Substance.  Finite  things 
are  the  most  external,  the  last,  the  most  subordinate 
forms  of  existence  into  which  the  universal  life  is 
specialized,  and  they  manifest  their  finitude  in  that 
they  are  without  resistance,  subject  to  the  infinite 
chain  of  causality  which  binds  the  world.  The  di- 
vine Substance  works  freely  according  to  the  inner 
essence  of  its  own  nature  ;  individuals,  however,  are 
not  free,  but  are  subject  to  the  influence  of  those 
things  with  which  they  come  into  contact.  It  fol- 
lows from  these  metaphysical  grounds,"  Schwegler 
continues,  "  that  what  is  called  free-will  cannot  be 
admitted.  For,  since  man  is  only  a  mode,  he,  like 
any  other  mode,  stands  in  an  endless  series  of  con- 
ditioning causes,  and  no  free-will  can,  therefore,  be 
predicated  of  him."  Further  on  he  adds :  "  Evil,  or 
sin,  is,  therefore,  only  relative  and  not  positive,  for 
nothing  happens  against  God's  will.  It  is  only  a 
simple  negation  or  deprivation,  which  only  seems  to 
be  a  reality  in  our  representation."  *  The  late  Sam- 
uel Johnson,  in  his  chapter  on  "  The  Morality  and 
Piety  of  Pantheism,"  undertakes  to  defend  both  the 
Yedantic  and  the  Spinozan  philosophy  by  pointing 
out  a  distinction  between  an  "  external  compulsion 
and  an  inner  force  which  merges  us  in  the  Infinite. 
Though  both  are  equally  efficient  as  to  the  result, 
and  both  are  inconsistent  with  individual  freedom, 
yet  real  fate  is  only  that  which  is  external.  .  .  . 
While  destiny  or  fate  in  the  sense  of  absolute  exter- 
nal compulsion  would  certainly  be  destructive,  not 
only  of  moral  responsibility  but  of  personality  itself, 
*  History  of  PhUosaphy,  pp.  220,  221. 


332     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

yet  religion  or  science  without  fate  is  radically  un- 
sound." Again  he  adds  :  "We  cannot  separate  per- 
fection and  fate.  Deity  whose  sway  is  not  destiny 
is  not  venerable,  nor  even  reliable.  It  would  be  a 
purpose  that  did  not  round  the  universe,  a  love  that 
could  not  preserve  it.  Theism  without  fate  is  a 
kind  of  atheism,  and  a  seK-dominated  atheism.  But 
holding  justice  to  be  the  true  necessity  or  fate,  is 
properly  theism,  though  it  refuses  the  name."  * 

The  reasoning  here  reminds  one  of  the  conclusions 
of  a  still  more  recent  writer,  who  while  condemning 
what  he  considers  the  fatalism  of  Calvinistic  theo- 
logy, still  asserts  that  its  logic  leaves  no  alterna- 
tive but  the  denial  of  a  personal  God.  And  an 
early  Buddhist  philosopher  has  left  a  fragment  which 
gives  the  very  same  reason  for  agnosticism.  Thus  he 
says  *.  "  If  the  world  was  made  by  God  (Isvara)  there 
should  be  no  such  thing  as  sorrow  or  calamity,  nor 
doing  wrong,  nor  doing  right ;  for  all,  both  pure  and 
impure,  deeds  must  come  from  Isvara.  ...  If 
he  makes  without  a  purpose  he  is  like  a  suckling 
child,  or  with  a  purpose,  he  is  not  complete.  Sorrow 
and  joy  spring  up  in  all  that  lives ;  these,  at  least, 
are  not  alike  the  works  of  Isvara,  for  if  he  causes 
love  and  joy  he  must  himseK  have  love  and  hate. 
But  if  he  loves  and  hates,  he  is  not  rightly  called 
self-existent.  'Twere  equal,  then,  the  doing  right  or 
doing  wrong.  There  should  be  no  reward  of  works ; 
the  works  themselves  being  his,  then  all  things  are 
the  same  to  him,  the  maker." 

This  was  a  Buddhist's  answer  to  the  Hindu  pan- 
*  Oriental  Religions — India.     Part  II.,  p.  44. 


EASTERN  AND    WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     333 

theism,  and  there  follows  a  reply  also  to  the  Oriental 
dualism  which  attempted  to  solve  the  difficulty  by 
assigning  two  great  first  causes,  one  good  and  the 
other  evil.     "  Nay,"  says  this  Buddhist  philosopher, 
"  if  you  say  there  is  another  cause  beside  this  Is  vara, 
then  he  is  not  the  end  or  sum  of  all,  and  therefore 
all  that  lives  may,  after  all,  be  uncreated,  and  so  you 
see  the  thought  of  Isvara  is  overthrown."  *   Thus  the 
same  problems  of  existence  have  taxed  human  specu- 
lation in  all  lands  and  all  ages.     The  same  perplex- 
ities have  arisen,  and  the  same  cavils  and  complaints. 
There  is  an  important  sense  in  which  all  forms  of 
materialism  are  fatalistic  in  their  relation  to  moral 
responsibility.   James  Biichner  assures  us  that  "  what 
is  called  man's  soul  or  mind  is  now  almost  univer- 
sally conceded  as  equivalent  to  a  function  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  brain."   Walter  Bagehot,  like  Maudsley, 
suggests  that  the  newly  bom  child  has  his  destiny 
inscribed  on  his  nervous  tissues,  f    Mr.  Buckle  as- 
sures us  that  certain  underlying  but  indefinable  laws 
of  society,  as  indicated  by  statistics,  control  human 
action  irrespective  of  choice  or  moral  responsibility. 
Even  accidents,  the  averages  of  f orgetfulness  or  neg- 
lect, are  the  subjects  of  computation.     To  support 
his  position  he  cites  the  averages  of  suicides,  or  the 
number  of  letters  deposited  yearly  in  a  given  post- 
office,  the  superscription  of  which  has  been  forgotten. 
Thus,  underlying  all  human  activity  there  is  an  un- 
known force,  a  vague  something — call  it  Deity,  or  call 
it  Fate — which  controls  human  affairs  irresistibly. 

*  Beal,  Buddhism  in  Chinas  p.  180. 
f  Physics  and  Politics. 


334     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

It  would  be  amusing,  if  it  were  not  sad,  to  see  what 
devices  and  what  names  have  been  resorted  to  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  a  personal  God.  The  Hindu 
Sankhyans  ascribed  all  things  to  the  "Eternally 
Existing  Essence."  The  Greek  Atomists  called  it 
an  "  Inconceivable  Necessity ; "  Anaxagoras,  "  The 
World-forming  Intelligence ; "  Hegel,  "  Absolute 
Idea  ;  "  Spinoza,  "  Absolute  Substance ; "  Schopen- 
hauer, "  Unconscious  Will."  Spencer  finds  only 
"  The  Unknowable ;  "  Darwin's  virtual  Creator  is 
"  Natural  Selection  ; "  Matthew  Arnold  recognize  a 
"  Stream  of  Tendency  not  our  own  which  makes  for 
righteousness."  Nothing  can  be  more  melancholy 
than  this  dreary  waste  of  human  speculation,  this 
weary  and  bootless  search  after  the  secret  of  the  uni- 
verse. At  the  same  time  a  deaf  ear  is  turned  to 
those  voices  of  nature  and  revelation  which  speak  of 
a  benevolent  Creator.  But  the  point  to  which  I  call 
particular  attention  in  this  connection  is,  that  these 
vague  terms,  whatever  else  they  may  mean,  imply  in 
each  case  some  law  of  necessity  which  moulds  the 
world.  They  are  only  the  names  of  the  Fates  whom 
all  philosophies  have  set  over  us.  If  we  have  been 
correct  in  tracing  an  element  of  fatalism  through  all 
the  heathen  faiths,  and  all  ancient  and  modem  phi- 
losophies, how  is  it  that  the  whole  army  of  unbelief 
concentrate  their  assailments  against  divine  sover- 
eignty in  the  Word  of  God,  and  yet  are  ready  to  laud 
and  approve  these  systems  which  exhibit  the  same 
things  in  greater  degree  and  without  mitigation  ? 

That  which  differentiates  Christianity  is  the  fact 
that,  while  it  does  represent  God  as  the  originator 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     335 

and  controller  of  all  things,  it  yet  respects  the  free- 
dom of  the  human  will,  which  Mohammedanism  does 
not,  which  Hinduism  does  not,  which  ancient  or 
modem  Buddhism  does  not,  which  Materialism  does 
not.  Not  only  the  Word  of  God  but  our  own  reason 
tells  us  that  the  Creator  of  this  world  must  have  pro- 
ceeded upon  a  definite  and  all-embracing  plan  ;  and 
yet  at  the  same  time,  not  only  the  Word  of  God, 
but  our  own  consciousness,  tells  us  that  we  are  free 
to  act  according  to  our  own  will.  How  these  things 
are  to  be  reconciled  we  know  not,  simply  because  we 
are  finite  and  God  is  infinite.  I  once  stood  before 
the  great  snowy  range  of  the  Himalayas,  whose  lofty 
peaks  rose  twenty-five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 
None  could  see  how  those  gigantic  masses  stood  re- 
lated to  each  other,  simply  because  no  mortal  ever 
has  explored,  or  ever  can  explore,  their  awful  and 
unapproachable  recesses. 

So  with  many  great  truths  concerning  the  being, 
attributes,  and  works  of  God.  One  may  say  that 
God  predetermined  and  then  foresaw  what  He  had 
ordained;  another  that  He  foresaw  and  then  re- 
solved to  effect  what  he  had  foreseen.  Neither  is  cor- 
rect, or  at  least  neither  can  know  that  he  is  correct. 
God  is  not  subject  to  our  conditions  of  time  and 
space.  It  is  impossible  that  He,  whose  knowledge 
and  will  encompass  all  things,  should  be  affected  by 
our  notions  of  order  and  sequence ;  there  is  with 
Him  no  before  and  after.  The  whole  universe,  with 
all  its  farthest  extended  history,  stood  before  Him 
from  all  eternity  as  one  conception  and  as  one  pur- 
pose ;  and  the  conception  and  the  purpose  were  one. 


336     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITY 

The  too  frequent  mistake  of  human  formulas  is 
that  they  imdertake  to  reason  out  infinite  mysteries 
on  our  low  anthropomorphic  lines,  one  in  one  ex- 
treme and  another  in  another.  "We  cannot  fit  the 
ways  of  God  to  the  measure  of  our  logic  or  our 
metaphysics.  What  we  have  to  do  with  many  things 
is  simply  to  believe  and  trust  and  wait.*  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  many  things  of  a  practical  nat- 
ure which  God  has  made  very  plain.  He  has  brought 
them  down  to  us.  The  whole  scheme  of  grace  is  an 
adaptation  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Godhead  to  our 
knowledge,  faith,  obedience,  and  love. 

And  this  leads  directly  to  the  chief  differential 
which  Christianity  presents  in  contrast  with  the 
fatalisms  of  false  systems,  viz.,  that  while  sin  and 
death  abound,  as  all  must  see,  the  Gospel  alone  re- 
veals a  superabounding  grace.  It  is  enough  for  us 
that  the  whole  scheme  is  one  of  Eedemption,  that 
the  Lamb  was  slain  from  the  foimdation  of  the 
world — nay,  that  He  made  the  world,  and  made  it  for 
an  infinitely  benevolent  purpose.  If  dark  mysteries 
appear  in  the  Word  or  in  the  world,  we  are  to  view 
them  in  the  light  of  Calvary,  and  wait  till  we  can 
see  as  we  are  seen ;  for  this  world  is  Christ's,  and  will 
surely  subserve  His  ends,  which  are  those  of  infinite 
compassion. 

Our  position,  therefore,  as  before  the  abettors  of 

*  "Probably  no  more  significant  cliange  awaits  the  theology  of 
the  future  than  the  recognition  of  this  province  of  the  unknown, 
and  the  cessation  of  controversy  as  to  matters  that  come  within 
it,  and  therefore  admit  of  no  dogmatic  settlement." — TuUoch's 
Religious  Thought  in  Britain^  p.  24. 


EASTERN  AND   WESTERN  PHILOSOPHIES     337 

heathen  or  agnostic  philosophy,  is  impregnable :  the 
fatalism  is  all  theirs,  the  union  of  sovereign  power 
with  infinite  love  is  ours.  We  have  reason  as  well 
as  they.  We  realize  the  facts  and  mysteries  of  life 
as  fully  as  they,  but  are  not  embittered  by  them. 
We  see  nothing  to  be  gained  by  putting  out  the  light 
we  have.  We  prefer  faith  to  pessimism,  incarnate 
love  to  the  tyranny  of  "  unconscious  will." 
22 


LECTUEE  X. 

THE  DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH. 

We  have  in  previous  lectures  instituted  brief  and 
partial  comparisons  between  Christianity  and  par- 
ticular faiths  of  the  East,  but  I  now  propose  a  gen- 
eral comparative  survey. 

Never  before  has  the  Christian  Faith  been  so 
boldly  challenged  to  show  cause  for  its  supreme  and 
exclusive  claims  as  in  our  time.  The  early  Chris- 
tians encountered  something  of  the  same  kind :  it 
seemed  very  preposterous  to  the  proud  Eoman  that 
an  obscure  sect,  coming  out  of  despised  Nazareth, 
should  refuse  to  place  a  statue  of  its  deified  Founder 
within  the  Pantheon,  in  the  goodly  company  of  re- 
nowned gods  from  every  part  of  the  Eoman  Empire ; 
but  it  did  so  refuse  and  gave  its  reasons,  and  it  ulti- 
mately carried  its  point.  It  gained  the  Pantheon 
and  Eome  itself  for  Christ  alone.  He  was  pro- 
claimed as  the  One  Eedeemer  of  the  world,  and  this 
claim  has  been  maintained  from  that  day  to  this. 
"There  can  be  no  diversity,"  said  His  followers, 
"for  there  is  no  other  name  given  under  heaven 
among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved.  The  very 
genius  of  Christianity  means  supremacy  and  mo- 
nopoly, for  the  reason  that  it  is  divine  and  God  can- 
not be  divided  against  Himself."    But  in  our  time 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  GHBISTIAN  FAITH   339 

the  whole  world  is  brought  very  closely  together. 
The  religions  of  men,  like  their  social  customs  and 
political  institutions,  are  placed  in  contact  and  com- 
parison. The  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith  here, 
in  Western  lands,  naturally  make  the  most  of  any 
possible  alliances  with  other  systems  supposed  to 
antagonize  Christianity ;  while  a  multitude  of  others, 
having  no  particular  interest  in  any  religion,  and 
rather  priding  themselves  upon  a  broad  charity  which 
is  but  a  courteous  name  for  indifference,  are  demand- 
ing with  a  superior  air  that  fair  play  shall  be  shown 
to  all  religions  alike.  The  Church  is  therefore 
called  upon  to  defend  her  imique  position  and  the 
promulgation  of  her  message  to  mankind.  Why 
does  she  refuse  to  admit  the  validity  of  other  re- 
ligions, and  why  send  her  missionaries  over  the 
earth  to  turn  the  non-Christian  races  from  those 
faiths  which  are  their  heritage  by  birth,  and  in  which 
they  honestly  put  their  trust?  Why  not  respect 
everywhere  that  noblest  of  all  man's  instincts  which 
prompts  him  to  inquire  after  God,  who  hath  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  that  dwell  upon  the  earth  ? 
If  the  old  Hindu  pantheism  of  the  Bhagavad  Gita 
taught  that  the  worshippers  of  other  gods  were  only 
worshipping  the  One  Supreme  Vishnu  unawares ;  if 
Buddhism  forbids  its  followers  to  assert  that  theirs 
is  the  only  religion,  or  even  that  it  is  the  best  re- 
ligion ;  *  is  it  not  time  that  Christians  should  emu- 
late this  noble  charity  ? 

This  plausible  plea  is  urged  with  such  force  and 
volume,  it  is  so  backed  by  the  current  literature  and 
*  Holy  Bible  and  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  p,  13. 


340     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRI8TIANITT 

the  secular  newspaper  press  that  it  cannot  be  ignored. 
The  time  has  come  when  the  Church  must  not  only 
be  able  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  she  professes, 
but  must  assign  reasons  why  her  faith  should  sup- 
plant every  other.  I  am  awaxe  that  many  are  insist- 
ing that  her  true  course  is  to  be  found  in  an  inten- 
sive zeal  in  the  promulgation  of  her  own  doctrines 
without  regard  to  any  other.  "  Preach  the  Gospel," 
it  is  said,  "  whether  men  will  hear  or  whether  they 
forbear."  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Paul's 
more  intelligent  method  was  to  strive  as  one  who 
would  win,  and  not  as  they  who  beat  the  air.  The 
Salvation  Army  will  reach  a  certain  class  with  their 
mere  unlettered  zeal.  The  men  who  purposely  read 
only  One  Book,  but  read  that  on  their  knees,  doubt- 
less have  an  important  work  to  do,  but  the  Church 
as  a  whole  cannot  go  back  to  the  time  when  devout 
zealots  sneered  at  the  idea  of  an  educated  ministry. 
The  conflict  of  truth  and  error  must  be  waged  intel- 
ligently. There  are  sufficient  reasons  for  claiming  a 
divine  supremacy  for  the  Gospel  over  all  heathen 
faiths,  and  the  sooner  we  thoroughly  understand  the 
difference,  the  more  wisely  and  successfully  shall  we 
accomplish  our  work. 

Wherein,  then,  consists  the  imique  supremacy  of 
the  Christian  faith  ? 

1.  It  alone  offers  a  real  salvation.  We  are  not 
speaking  of  ethics,  or  conceptions  of  God,  or  meth- 
ods of  race  culture,  but  of  that  one  element  which 
heals  the  wounds  of  acknowledged  sin  and  reconciles 
men  to  God.  And  this  is  found  in  Christianity 
alone.     There  is  no  divine  help  in  any  other.     Sys- 


DIVINE  SUPBEMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    341 

terns  of  speculation,  theories  of  the  universe,  and  of 
our  relation  to  the  Infinite  are  found  in  all  sacred 
books  of  the  East.  There  are  lofty  ethical  teach- 
ings gathered  from  the  lips  of  many  masters,  and  rec- 
ords of  patient  research,  cheerful  endurance  of  as- 
cetic rigors,  and  the  voluntary  encounter  of  martyrs' 
deaths.  And  one  cannot  but  be  impressed  by  this 
spectacle  of  earnest  struggles  in  men  of  every  land 
and  every  age  to  find  some  way  of  peace.  But  in 
none  of  the  ethnic  religions  has  there  been  revealed 
a  divine  and  heaven- wrought  salvation.  They  have 
all  begun  and  ended  with  human  merit  and  human 
effort.  Broken  cisterns  have  everywhere  taken  the 
place  of  the  One  Pountain  of  Eternal  Life.  Though 
all  these  systems  recognize  the  sin  and  misery  of  the 
world,  and  carry  their  estimate  of  them  to  the  length 
of  downright  pessimism,  they  have  discovered  no 
eye  that  could  pity  and  no  arm  that  could  bring  sal- 
vation. In  the  silence  and  gloom  of  the  world's  his- 
tory only  one  voice  has  said,  "  Lo,  I  come !  in  the  vol- 
ume of  the  Book  it  is  written  of  me."  And  although 
men  have  in  all  ages  striven  to  rid  themselves  of  sin 
by  self-mortification,  and  even  mutilation,  yet  the 
ever-recurring  question,  "  Who  shall  deliver  me  from 
the  body  of  this  death  ?  "  was  never  answered  till 
Paul  answered  it  in  his  rapturous  acknowledgment 
of  victory  through  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  Mo- 
hammed never  claimed  to  be  a  saviour  or  even  an 
intercessor.  He  was  the  sword  of  God  against  ido- 
lators,  and  the  ambassador  of  God  to  believers ;  but 
beyond  the  promise  of  a  sensuous  heaven,  he  offered 
no  salvation.     He  had  no  remedy  for  sin — except 


342    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  0HRI8TIANITT 

that  in  his  own  case  he  claimed  a  special  revelation 
of  clemency  and  indulgence.  Many  a  wholesome 
truth  derived  from  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  was 
promulgated  to  the  faithful,  but  self-righteousness, 
and  especially  valor  in  Mohammedan  conquest,  was 
offered  as  the  key  to  paradise."'^ 

Doubtless  we  should  view  the  false  systems  with 
discrimination.  Like  the  sublime  philosophy  of 
Plato,  Mohammedanism  does  teach  an  exalted  idea 
of  God,  and  there  is,  accordingly,  a  dignity  and  rev- 
erence in  its  forms  of  worship.  I  once  witnessed  a 
very  imposing  spectacle  in  the  great  mosque  at  Del- 
hi, on  the  Moslem  Sabbath.  Several  hundred  In- 
dian Mohammedans  were  repeating  their  prayers  in 
concert.  They  were  in  their  best  attire,  and  fresh 
from  their  ablutions,  and  their  concerted  genuflec- 
tions, the  subdued  murmur  of  their  many  voices, 
and  the  general  solemnity  of  their  demeanor,  rfyii- 
dered  the  whole  service  most  impressive.  It  con- 
trasted strongly  with  the  spectacle  which  I  witnc/^sed 
a  little  later  in  the  temple  of  Siva,  in  Benares.  The 
unspeakable  worship  of  the  linga,  the  scatteri/ig  of 
rice  and  flowers  and  the  pouring  of  libations  before 
this  symbol;  the  hanging  of  garlands  on  the  horns  of 
sacred  bulls,  and  that  by  women  ;  the  rushing  to  and 
fro,  tracking  the  filth  of  the  sacred  stables  int/O  tho 
trodden  ooze  of  rice  and  flowers  which  covered  tho 
temple  pavements;  the  drawing  and  sipping  of  water 

*  Moliainmed  was  once  asked  whether  he  trusted  in  his  OTm 
merit  or  in  the  mercj  of  God,  and  he  answered,  "  The  mercy  of 
God."  But  the  whole  drift  of  his  teaching  belied  this  one  pious 
utterance. 


DIVINE  SUPMEMAOT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    343 

from  the  adjacent  cesspool,  known  as  the  sacred  well ; 
the  shouting  and  striking  of  bells,  and  the  general 
frenzy  of  the  people — all  this  conld  be  considered  as 
nothing  short  of  wild  and  depraved  orgies.  If  we 
must  choose,  give  us  Islam,  whether  in  contrast  with 
the  Siva  worship  of  India  or  with  the  tyranny  of 
the  witch  doctors  of  interior  Africa. 

Yet,  I  repeat,  Islam  has  no  salvation,  no  scheme 
of  grace,  no  great  Physician.  In  visiting  any  Mo- 
hammedan country  one  is  impressed  with  this  one 
defect,  the  want  of  a  Mediator.  I  once  stood  in  the 
central  hall  of  an  imposing  mansion  in  Damas- 
cus, around  the  frieze  of  which  were  described,  in 
Arabic  letters  of  gold,  "  The  Hundred  Names  of  Al- 
lah." •  They  were  interpreted  to  me  by  a  friend  as 
setting  forth  the  lofty  attributes  of  God — for  exam- 
ple, "  The  Infinite,"  "  The  Eternal,"  "  The  Creator," 
"The  All-Seeing,"  "  The  Merciful,"  "The  Just."  No 
one  could  help  being  impressed  by  these  inspiring 
names.  They  were  the  common  heritage  of  Juda- 
ism and  Christianity  before  Islam  adopted  them,  and 
they  are  well  calculated  to  fill  the  soul  with  rever- 
ence and  awe.  But  there  is  another  class  of  names 
which  were  predicted  by  Judaism  and  rejoiced  in  by 
Christianity,  but  which  Islam  rejects ;  for  example, 
"  Messiah,"  "  Immanuel,"  or  God  with  us,  "  The  Son 
of  God,"  "The  Son  of  Man,"  "  The Eedeemer,"  "  The 
Elder  Brother."  In  a  word,  Islam  has  nothing  to  fill 
the  breach  between  a  holy  and  just  God  and  the  con- 
science-smitten souls  of  men.  These  honored  names 
of  Allah  are  as  sublime  as  the  snow-peaks  of  the 
Himalayas  and  as  inaccessible.     How  can  we  attain 


344     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

unto  them?  Without  a  Daysman  how  shall  we 
bridge  the  abyss  that  lies  between?  Even  Israel 
plead  for  Moses  to  speak  to  them  in  place  of  the  In- 
finite, and  they  voiced  a  felt  want  of  all  human 
hearts. 

Yet  no  religious  system  but  Christianity  reveals  a 
Mediator.  There  is  in  other  faiths  no  such  concep- 
tion as  the  fatherhood  of  God.  Though  such  names 
as  Dyauspater,  Zeuspiter  or  Jupiter,  and  others 
bearing  the  import  of  father  are  sometimes  found, 
yet  they  imply  only  a  common  source,  as  the  sun  is 
the  source  of  life.  They  lack  the  elements  of  love 
and  fostering  care.  There  can  be  no  real  father- 
hood and  no  spirit  of  adoption  except  through  union 
with  the  Son  of  God.  The  idea  that  re-birth  and 
remission  of  sin  may  be  followed  by  adoption  and 
heirship,  and  joint  heirship  with  the  Son  of  the  In- 
finite, belongs  to  the  Christian  faith  alone ;  and  the 
hope  and  inspiration  of  such  a  heritage,  seen  in  con- 
trast with  the  endless  and  disheartening  prospects 
of  countless  transmigrations,  are  beyond  the  power 
of  language  to  describe.  It  was  with  infinite  reason 
that  Paul  was  taught  to  regard  his  work  among  the 
Gentiles  as  a  rescue  or  a  deliverance  "from  dark- 
ness unto  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God,"  and  it  was  a  priceless  boon  which  enabled 
him  to  offer  at  once  the  full  remission  of  sins  and  a 
part  in  the  glorious  inheritance,  revealed  through 
faith  in  Christ. 

Mere  ethical  knowledge  cannot  comfort  the  human 
soul.  Contrast  the  gloom  of  Marcus  Aurelius  with 
the  joy  expressed  in  Psalm  cxix. ;  and  Seneca,  also, 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    345 

with  all  his  discernment,  and  his  eloquent  presenta- 
tion of  beautiful  precepts,  was  one  of  the  saddest, 
darkest  characters  of  Roman  history.  He  was  the 
man  who  schemed  with  Claudius,  and  who  at  the 
same  time  that  he  wrote  epigrams  urged  Nero  on- 
ward with  flattery  and  encouragement  to  his  most 
infamous  vices  and  his  boldest  crimes.  Knowledge 
of  ethical  maxims  and  the  power  of  expressing  them, 
therefore,  is  one  thing,  religion  is  another.  Religion 
is  a  device,  human  or  divine,  for  raising  up  men  by 
a  real  or  a  supposed  supernatural  aid.  It  ought  to 
reveal  God  as  a  helper  and  a  Saviour.  It  ought  to 
be  a  provision  of  grace  by  which  the  Just  can  yet 
be  a  justifier  of  them  that  are  weak  and  wounded  by 
sin.  The  ethical  systems  of  the  heathen  world  cor- 
roborate the  Scriptural  diagnosis  of  man's  character 
and  condition,  but  they  fail  as  prescriptions.  So  far 
as  divine  help  and  regenerative  power  are  concerned, 
they  leave  the  race  helpless  still. 

Christianity  is  a  system  of  faith  in  a  moral  as  well 
as  in  an  intellectual  sense.  It  inculcates  a  spirit  of 
loving,  filial  trust  instead  of  a  querulous  self-right- 
eousness which  virtually  chides  the  unknown  Ruler 
of  the  universe.  According  to  *'  The  Light  of  Asia  " 
when  the  Buddha  preached  at  Kapilavastu  there 
were  assembled  men  and  devils,  beasts  and  birds,  all 
victims  alike  of  the  cruel  fate  that  ruled  the  world. 
Existence  was  an  evil  and  only  the  Buddha  could  be 
found  to  pity.  But  that  pity  offered  no  hope  except 
in  the  destruction  of  hope,  and  the  destruction  of  all 
desire,  all  aspiration,  even  all  feeling ;  while  Chris- 
tianity offers  a  hope  which  maketh  not  ashamed, 


346     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

even  an  immortal  inheritance.*  Hinduism  also,  like 
Islam  and  Buddhism,  lacks  every  element  of  divine 
salvation.  It  is  wholly  a  thing  of  merit.  The  in- 
finite Brahm  is  said  to  be  void  of  attributes  of  all 
kinds.  No  anthropomorphic  conception  can  be  pred- 
icated of  him.  The  three  Gods  of  the  Trimurti  are 
cold  and  distant — though  for  Vishnu  in  his  alleged 
incarnation  of  Krishna,  a  sympathetic  nature  was 
claimed  at  a  later  day — borrowed,  some  say,  from 

*  Of  the  terrible  darkness  and  bewilderment  into  which  be- 
nighted races  are  often  found  Schoolcraft  furnishes  this  graphic 
and  painful  picture  in  the  condition  of  the  Iroquois  : 

'*  Their  notions  of  a  deity,  founded  apparently  on  some  dreamy 
tradition  of  original  truth,  are  so  subtile  and  divisible,  and  estab- 
lish so  heterogeneous  a  connection  between  spirit  and  matter  of 
all  imaginable  forms,  that  popular  belief  seems  to  have  wholly 
confounded  the  possible  with  the  impossible,  the  natural  with  the 
supernatural.  Action,  so  far  as  respects  cause  and  effect,  takes 
the  widest  and  wildest  range,  through  the  agency  of  good  or  evil 
influences,  which  are  put  in  motion  alike  for  noble  or  ignoble 
ends— alike  by  men,  beasts,  devils,  or  gods.  Seeing  something 
mysterious  and  wonderful,  he  believes  all  things  mysterious  and 
wonderful ;  and  he  is  afloat  without  shore  or  compass,  on  the 
wildest  sea  of  superstition  and  necromancy.  He  sees  a  god  in 
every  phenomenon,  and  fears  a  sorcerer  in  every  enemy.  Life, 
under  such  a  system  of  polytheism  and  wild  belief,  is  a  constant 
scene  of  fears  and  alarms.  Fear  is  the  predominating  passion, 
and  he  is  ready,  wherever  he  goes,  to  sacrifice  at  any  altar,  be  the 
sujjposed  deity  ever  so  grotesque.  He  relates  just  what  he  be- 
lieves, and  unluckily  he  believes  everything  that  can  possibly  be 
told.  A  beast,  or  a  bird,  or  a  man,  or  a  god,  or  a  devil,  a  stone, 
a  serpent,  or  a  wizard,  a  wind,  or  a  sound,  or  a  ray  of  light — 
these  are  so  many  causes  of  action,  which  the  meanest  and  lowest 
of  the  series  may  put  in  motion,  but  which  shall  in  his  theology 
and  philosophy  vibrate  along  the  mysterious  chain  through  the 
uppermost,  and  life  or  death  may  at  any  moment  be  the  reward 
or  the  penalty." — Notes  on  tJie  Iroquois,  p.  263. 


DIVINE  SUPBEMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    347 

Buddhism,  or,  according  to  others,  from  Christianity. 
In  the  Hindu  saint  all  spiritual  power  in  this  life  is 
the  merit  power  of  ascetic  austerities,  all  hope  for 
the  future  world  lies  in  the  cleansing  efficacy  of  end- 
less transmigrations  of  which  the  goal  is  absorption 
into  deity. 

But  the  difficulty  with  both  Buddhism  and  Hindu- 
ism is  that  transmigration  cannot  regenerate.  It  is 
only  a  vague  postponement  of  the  moral  issues  of 
the  soul.  There  is  recognized  no  future  intervention 
that  can  effect  a  change  in  the  downward  drift,  and 
why  should  a  thousand  existences  prove  better  than 
one  ?  According  to  a  law  of  physics  known  as  the 
persistence  of  force,  a  body  once  set  in  motion  will 
never  stop  unless  through  the  intervention  of  some 
other  resisting  force.  And  this  is  strikingly  true  of 
moral  character  and  the  well-known  power  and  mo- 
mentum of  habit.  Who  shall  change  the  leopard's 
spots  or  deflect  the  fatal  drift  of  a  human  soul? 
Eemorselessly  these  Oriental  systems  exact  from 
Kharma  the  uttermost  farthing.  They  emphasize  the 
fact  that  according  to  the  sowing  shall  be  the  reap- 
ing, and  that  in  no  part  of  the  universe  can  ill  desert 
escape  its  awards.  Even  if  change  were  possible, 
therefore,  how  shall  the  old  score  be  settled  ?  What 
help,  what  rescue  can  mere  infinitude  of  time  afford, 
though  the  transmigrations  should  number  tens  of 
thousands  ?  There  is  no  hint  that  any  pitying  eye 
of  God  or  devil  looks  upon  the  struggle,  or  any 
arm  is  stretched  forth  to  raise  up  the  crippled  and 
helpless  soul.  Time  is  the  only  Saviour — time  so 
vast,  so  v£igue,  so  distant,  that  the  mind  cannot  fol- 


348    ORIENTAL  RELIOI0N8  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

low  its  cycles  or  trace  tlie  relations  of  cause  and 
effect. 

In  contrast  witli  all  this,  Christianity  bids  the 
Hindu  ascetic  cease  from  his  self-mortification  and 
become  himseK  a  herald  of  Glad  Tidings.  It  invites 
the  hook-swinger  to  renounce  his  useless  torture  and 
accept  the  availing  sacrifice  of  Him  who  hung  upon 
the  Cross.  It  relieves  woman  from  the  power  of 
Satan,  as  exercised  in  those  cruel  disabilities  which 
false  systems  have  imposed  upon  her,  and  assigns 
her  a  place  of  honor  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
world  has  not  done  scoffing  at  the  idea  of  a  vicari- 
ous sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  men,  and  yet  it  has  ad- 
vanced so  far  that  its  best  thinkers,  even  without 
any  religious  bias,  are  agreed  that  the  principle  of 
self-sacrifice  is  the  very  highest  element  of  character 
that  man  can  aspire  to.  And  this  is  tantamount  to 
an  acknowledgment  that  the  great  principle  which 
the  Cross  illustrates,  and  on  which  the  salvation  of 
the  race  is  made  to  rest,  is  the  crowning  glory  of  all 
ethics  and  must  be  therefore  the  germinal  principle 
of  all  true  religion, 

Christianity  with  its  doctrine  of  voluntary  Divine 
Sacrifice  was  no  after-thought.  Paul  speaks  of  it  as 
*'  the  mystery  which  hath  been  hid  from  ages  and 
from  generations  but  now  is  made  manifest."  It  was 
the  one  great  mystery  which  angels  had  desired  to 
look  into  and  for  which  the  whole  world  had  waited 
in  travail  and  expectation.  Christ  was  "  the  Lamb 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  and  the  en- 
tire world-history  has  proceeded  under  an  economy 
of  grace.     And  I  repeat,  its  fundamental  principle 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    349 

of  sacrifice,  exemplified  as  it  has  been  through  the 
Christian  centuries,  has  won  the  recognition  even  of 
those  who  were  not  themselves  the  followers  of  Christ. 
"  The  history  of  self  sacrifice  during  the  last  eighteen 
hundred  years,"  says  Lecky,  "  has  been  mainly  the 
history  of  the  action  of  Christianity  upon  the  world. 
Ignorance  and  error  have  no  doubt  often  directed  the 
heroic  spirit  into  wrong  channels,  and  sometimes 
even  made  it  a  cause  of  great  evil  to  mankind ;  but 
it  is  the  moral  type  and  beauty,  the  enlarged  con- 
ception and  persuasive  power  of  the  Christian  faith 
that  have  chiefly  called  it  into  being ;  and  it  is  by 
their  influence  alone  that  it  can  be  permanently 
maintained."  *  Speaking  of  the  same  principle  Car- 
lyle  says  :  "It  is  only  with  renunciation  that  life, 
properly  speaking,  can  be  said  to  begin.  ...  In 
a  valiant  suffering  for  others,  not  in  a  slothful  mak- 
ing others  suffer  for  us,  did  nobleness  ever  lie."  And 
George  Sand  in  still  stronger  terms  has  said,  "  There 
is  but  one  sole  virtue  in  the  world — the  Eternal  Sac- 
rifice of  self." 

While  we  ponder  these  testimonies  coming  from 
such  witnesses  we  remember  how  the  Great  Apostle 
traces  this  wonder-working  principle  back  to  its  Di- 
vine Source,  and  from  that  Source  down  into  all  the 
commonest  walks  of  life  when  he  says,  "Let  this 
mind  be  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ,  who,  being 
in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God ;  but  made  himself  of  no  reputation, 
and  took  on  Him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made 
in  the  likeness  of  men :  and  being  found  in  fashion 
*  History  of  Rationalism. 


350     ORIENTAL  RELiaiONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  and  became  obedient 
unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  Cross."  Or  when 
he  reminds  the  Corinthians  that,  though  Christ  was 
rich,  yet  for  their  sake  He  became  poor,  that  they 
through  His  poverty  might  be  rich. 

In  all  the  Oriental  systems  there  is  nothing  like 
this,  either  as  a  divine  source  of  all-availing  help  and 
rescue,  or  as  a  celestial  spring  of  human  action.  It 
is  through  this  communicable  grace  that  Christ  be- 
comes the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life.  Well  might 
Augustine  say  that  while  the  philosophy  of  Plato 
led  him  to  lofty  conceptions  of  God,  it  could  not 
show  him  how  to  approach  Him  or  be  reconciled  un- 
to Him.  "  For  it  is  one  thing,"  he  says,  "  from  the 
mountain's  shaggy  top  to  see  the  land  of  peace  and 
to  find  no  way  thither ;  and  in  vain  to  essay  through 
ways  impossible,  opposed  and  beset  by  fugitives  and 
deserters,  under  their  captain  the  lion  and  the  drag- 
on ;  and  another  to  keep  on  the  way  that  leads 
thither  guarded  by  the  host  of  the  heavenly  General, 
where  they  spoil  not  that  have  deserted  the  heaven- 
ly army ;  for  they  avoid  it  as  very  torment.  These 
things  did  wonderfuU}^  sink  into  my  bowels  when  I 
read  that  least  of  Thy  Apostles,  and  had  meditated 
upon  Thy  works  and  trembled  exceedingly."  While 
Christianity  is  wholly  unique  in  providing  an  ob- 
jective Salvation  instead  of  attempting  to  work  out 
perfection  from  "  beggarly  elements  "  within  the  soul 
itself,  as  all  heathen  systems  do,  and  as  all  our 
modem  schemes  of  mere  ethical  culture  do,  it  at  the 
same  time  implants  in  the  heart  the  most  fruitful 
germs  of  subjective  spiritual  life.     Its  superior  trans- 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    351 

formation  of  human  character,  as  compared  with  all 
other  cults,  is  not  only  a  matter  of  doctrine  but  also 
a  matter  of  history.  It  is  acknowledged  that  Chris- 
tianity has  wrought  most  powerfully  of  all  faiths  in 
taming  savage  races  as  well  as  individual  men,  in 
moulding  higher  civilizations  and  inspiring  senti- 
ments of  humanity  and  brotherly  love.  "  Christ," 
says  one  of  the  Bampton  Lecturers,  "  is  the  Light 
that  broods  over  all  history.  .  .  .  All  that  there 
is  upon  earth  of  beauty,  truth,  and  goodness,  all  that 
distinguishes  the  civilized  man  from  the  savage  is 
this  gift."  And  if  it  be  asked  how  the  leaven  of 
Christ's  influence  has  pervaded  all  society,  the  an- 
swer is  that  the  work  is  presided  over  by  a  divine  and 
omnipotent  Spirit  who  represents  Christ,  who  carries 
out  what  He  began,  who  by  a  direct  and  transforming 
power  renews  and  enlightens  and  prompts  the  soul. 

Christianity,  then,  is  not  a  record,  a  history  of 
what  was  said  and  done  eighteen  centuries  ago :  it  is 
not  a  body  of  doctrines  and  precepts :  it  is  the  liv- 
ing power  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  The  written 
Word  is  the  sword  of  this  Divine  Spirit.  The  re- 
newed soul  is  begotten  of  the  Spirit  and  it  is  instinct 
with  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit.  No  other  system 
makes  any  claim  to  such  an  influence  as  that  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Sacred  books,  written  systems  of  law 
or  ethics  would  all  prove  a  dead  letter — the  Bible  it- 
self, as  well  as  the  Veda,  would  be  a  dead  letter  but 
for  the  co-operation  of  this  Divine  Spirit.  Sacred 
Scriptures  might  be  venerated,  they  would  not  be 
obeyed.  The  dead  heart  must  be  quickened  and  re- 
newed and  only  Christianity  reveals  the  Transform- 


352     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GURISTIANITT 

ing  Power.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a 
man  he  horn  again  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of  God, 

Instantaneous  renewal  of  the  character  and  the 
life  is  not  even  claimed  by  other  faiths ;  there  is  in 
them  nothing  like  the  conversion  of  Saul  of  Tarsus, 
or  that  of  thousands  of  others  well  known  in  the  his- 
tory of  Christian  experience.  There  are  no  such 
changes  in  men  who,  from  having  led  lives  of  prof- 
ligacy and  irreligion,  have  turned  at  once  into  paths 
of  righteousness — have  tamed  their  wild  propensities 
and  submitted  themselves  to  the  gentle  law  of  love. 
But  under  Christian  influence  we  have  seen  Africaner 
the  savage  transformed  to  a  tractable,  humane,  and 
loving  disciple.  We  have  seen  the  wild  and  blood- 
thirsty Koord  subdued  and  made  as  a  little  child. 
We  have  seen  the  cannibal  King  Thokambo,  of  Fiji, 
turned  from  his  cruelty  to  a  simple,  childlike  faith, 
and  made  to  prefer  the  good  of  his  people  to  the 
glory  of  a  powerless  sceptre.  Whole  races,  like  the 
Northmen,  have  been  tamed  from  savagery  and  made 
peaceable  and  earnest  followers  of  Christ.  In  our 
own  time  it  has  been  said  of  a  missionary  in  the 
South  Pacific  Islands,  "  that  when  he  arrived  on  his 
field  there  were  no  Christians,  and  when  he  closed 
his  labors  there  were  no  heathen." 

The  religion  of  Gautama  has  won  whole  tribes  of 
men,  Hinduism  and  Mohammedanism  are  even  now 
winning  converts  from  fetish-worshipping  races,  but, 
so  far  as  I  know,  none  of  these  faiths  have  ever 
made  converts  except  either  by  war  or  by  the  pres- 
entation of  such  motives  as  might  appeal  to  the  nat- 
ural heart  of  man  ;  there  has  been  no  spiritual  trans- 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  GIIRISTIAN  FAITH    353 

formation.  If  it  be  said  that  the  Buddhist  Nirvana 
and  the  Hindu  doctrine  of  final  absorption  cannot 
attract  the  natural  heart,  the  ready  answer  is  that 
Nirvana  and  absorption  are  not  the  real  inspiration 
of  their  respective  systems.  They  are  so  far  re- 
moved into  the  dim  future  as  to  exert  no  practical 
influence  on  the  great  mass  of  men.  The  future  es- 
tate that  is  really  expected  and  desired  is  a  happy 
ideal  transmigration,  and  perhaps  many  of  them ;  and 
the  chief  felicity  of  the  Hindu  is  that  no  particular 
estate  is  prescribed.  While  the  Christian  is  prom- 
ised a  heaven  to  which  the  natural  heart  does  not 
aspire,  the  Hindu  may  imagine  and  prefigure  his 
own  heaven.  His  next  life  may  be  as  carnal  as  the 
celestial  hunting-ground  of  the  Indian  or  the  prom- 
ised paradise  of  the  Moslem.  It  may  be  only  the 
air-castle  of  a  day-dreamer.  There  is  no  moral  trans- 
formation. There  is  no  expulsive  power  of  a  new 
and  higher  aspiration.  Old  things  have  not  passed 
away  ;  nothing  has  become  new. 

But  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  claims  to  work  an 
entire  change  in  the  desires  and  aspirations  of  the 
heart  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Paul  found 
the  men  of  Ephesus  highly  civilized  in  a  sense,  but 
"  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  "  walking  according 
to  the  course  of  this  world,  and  having  their  conver- 
sation in  the  lusts  of  the  flesh."  But  God  by  His 
Spirit  so  "  quickened  "  them  that  they  were  able  to 
understand  and  appreciate  one  of  the  most  spiritual 
of  all  his  Epistles.  He  addressed  them  as  "  new 
creatures,"  as  God's  "  workmanship,"  "  created  in 
Christ  Jesus  unto  good  ivories'' 
23 


354    onTENTAL  HELIGIOSS  AND  GimiSTlANITY 

As  has  already  been  noticed,  all  theories  of  moral 
transformation  foimd  in  heathen  systems  require 
time.  The  process  is  carried  on  by  intensive  and 
long-continued  thought,  or  by  gradual  accumulations 
of  merit.  Only  the  Buddha  was  enlightened  per 
saltum,^  so  to  speak.  And  quite  in  accord  with  this 
view  are  those  modem  forms  of  materialism  which 
maintain  that  mental  and  moral  habits  consist  in 
gradual  impressions  made  in  the  molecules  of  the 
nerve-tissues — that  these  impressions  come  at  length 
to  determine  our  acts  without  the  necessity  of  either 
purpose  or  conscious  recognition,  and  that  only  when 
right  action  becomes  thus  involuntary  can  character 
strictly  be  said  to  exist,  f  But  such  theories  cer- 
tainly do  not  harmonize  with  the  known  facts  of 
Christian  conversion  already  alluded  to.  "We  do  not 
refuse  to  recognize  a  certain  degree  of  truth  hidden 
in  these  speculations.  We  are  aware  that  continued 
thought  or  emotion  promotes  a  certain  habit,  and 
that  in  the  Christian  life  such  habit  becomes  an  ele- 
ment of  strength.  We  also  admit  that  high  and  pure 
thought  and  emotion  stamp  themselves  at  length 
upon  our  physical  nature,  and  appear  in  the  very  ex- 
pression of  the  countenance,  but  when  we  look  for 
the  transforming  impulse  that  can  begin  and  sustain 
such  habitual  exercises  in  spite  of  the  natural  sinful- 
ness and  corruption  which  all  systems  admit,  we  find 
it  only  in  the  Christian  doctrine  of-  the  new  birth  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

*  And  even  the  Buddha  had  spent  six  years  in  self-mortification 
and  in  the  diligent  search  for  what  he  regarded  as  the  true  wisdom, 
f  Henry  Maudsley,  in  The  Arena  of  April,  1891. 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  PAtTH   355 

On  these  two  doctrines  of  a  Divine  Vicarious 
Sacrifice  and  of  the  transforming  power  of  a  Di- 
vine Spirit  we  might  rest  our  case.  It  should  be 
sufficient  to  show,  first,  that  Christianity  alone  pro- 
vides a  divine  salvation  in  which  God  is  made  sin 
for  us ;  and  second,  that  its  power  alone,  though 
objective,  works  in  us  the  only  effectual  subjective 
transformation  by  a  direct  influence  from  on  high. 
But  there  are  many  other  points  of  contrast  in 
which  the  transcendent  character  of  Christianity  ap- 
pears. 

First,  an  important  differential  lies  in  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  Divine  personality  of  Jesus.  Bud- 
dhism, Confucianism,  and  Mohammedanism,  were 
strongly  supported  by  the  personality  of  their  found- 
ers. We  also  cheerfully  accord  to  such  men  as  Soc- 
rates and  Plato  great  personal  influence.  They  have 
impressed  themselves  upon  the  millions  of  mankind 
more  deeply  than  statesmen,  or  potentates,  or  con- 
querors ;  but  not  one  of  these  presents  to  us  a  com- 
plete and  rounded  character,  judged  even  from  a  hu- 
man stand-point.  Mohammed  utterly  failed  on  the 
ethical  side.*  His  life  was  so  marred  by  coarse 
sensuality,  weak  effeminacy,  heartless  cruelty,  un- 
blushing hypocrisy,  and  heaven-defying  blasphemy, 
that  but  for  his  stupendous  achievements,  and  his 
sublime  and  persistent  self-assertion,  he  would  long 
since  have  been  buried  beneath  the  contempt  of  man- 

*  '*  Barren  Mohammedanism  has  been  in  all  the  higher  and 
more  tender  virtues,  because  its  noble  morality  and  its  pure  the- 
ism have  been  united  with  no  living  example." — Leckj,  History 
of  Morals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  10. 


356    OBIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND   CHRISTIANITY 

kind.*  Confucius  appears  to  have  been  above  re- 
proach in  morals,  and  that  amid  universal  profligacy ; 
but  he  was  cold  in  temperament,  unsympathetic,  and 
slavishly  utilitarian  in  his  teachings.  His  ethics 
lacked  symmetry  and  just  proportion.  The  ^^e  re- 
lations which  constituted  his  ethico-political  system 
were  everything.  They  were  made  the  basis  of  in- 
exorable social  customs  which  sacrificed  some  of  the 
tenderest  and  noblest  promptings  of  the  human 
heart.  Confucius  mourned  the  death  of  his  mother, 
for  filial  respect  was  a  part  of  his  system,  but  for  his 
dying  wife  there  is  no  evidence  of  grief  or  regret,  and 
when  his  son  mourned  the  death  of  his  wife  the  phi- 
losopher reproved  him.  In  all  things  he  reasoned 
upward  toward  the  throne;  his  grand  aim  was  to 
build  up  an  ideal  state.  He  therefore  magnified 
reverence  for  parents  and  all  ancestors  even  to  the 
verge  of  idolatry,  but  he  utterly  failed  in  that  sym- 
metry in  which  Paul  makes  the  duties  of  parents 
and  children  mutual.  Under  his  system  a  father 
might  exercise  his  caprice  almost  to  the  power  of 
life  or  death,  and  a  Chinese  mother-in-law  is  prover- 
bially a  tyrant.  The  beautiful  sympathy  of  Christ, 
shown  in  blessing  little  children  and  in  drawing  les- 
sons from  their  simple  trust,  would  have  been  utterly 
out  of  place  in  the  great  sage  of  China.     Confucius 

*  The  most  intelligent  Mohammedans,  as  we  have  shown  in  a 
former  lecture,  admit  the  moral  blemishes  of  his  character  as 
compared  with  the  purity  of  Jesus  and  only  revere  him  as  the  in- 
strument of  a  great  Divine  purpose.  His  only  element  of  great- 
ness was  success.  Even  the  Koran  convicts  him  of  what  the 
world  must  regard  as  heinous  sin  and  presents  Jesus  as  the  only 
sinless  prophet. 


DIVINE  8UPBEMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    357 

seems  to  have  troubled  himseK  but  slightly,  if  at  all, 
about  the  wants  of  the  poor  and  the  suffering ;  he 
taught  no  doctrine  of  seK-sacrifice  for  the  ignorant 
and  the  unworthy.  His  ideal  of  the  "  superior  man  " 
would  have  been  tarnished  by  that  contact  with  the 
lowly  and  degraded  which  was  the  glory  of  the 
Christ.  And  when  his  cotemporary,  Laotze,  taught 
the  duty  of  doing  good,  even  to  enemies,  he  repudi- 
ated the  principle  as  uncalled  for  in  the  relative 
duties  which  should  govern  mankind.* 

With  respect  to  personality,  probably  a  higher 
claim  has  been  made  for  Gautama  than  for  either  of 
the  characters  who  have  been  named.  Sir  Edwin 
Arnold,  in  his  preface  to  the  "Light  of  Asia,"  has  as- 
signed to  him  a  virtual  sinlessness,  and  such  is  doubt- 
less the  character  which  his  followers  would  claim  for 
him.  But  as  a  model  for  the  great  masses  of  men  Gau- 
tama was  very  far  from  perfection.  He  had  little  of 
the  genial  sunlight  of  humanity ;  in  every  fibre  of  his 
nature  he  was  a  recluse ;  his  views  of  life  were  pessi- 
mistic ;  he  had  no  glad  tidings  for  the  sorrowing ;  no 
encouragement  for  the  weary  and  the  heavy  laden. f 
His  agnosticism  was  ill  adapted  to  the  irrepressible 
wants  of  mankind,  for  they  must  place  their  trust  in 

*  Douglass,  Confucianism  and  Taonism. 

f  The  apologists  of  Buddhism  have  made  much  of  the  story  of 
a  distressed  young  mother  who  came  to  the  *'  Master"  bearing  in 
her  arms  the  dead  body  of  her  first-born — hoping  for  some  com- 
fort or  help.  He  bade  her  bring  him  some  mustard-seed  found 
in  a  home  where  no  child  had  died.  After  a  wearisome  but  vain 
search  he  only  reminded  her  of  the  universality  of  death.  No 
hope  of  a  future  life  and  a  glad  recovery  of  the  lost  was  given. 
As  an  illustration  of  Buddhism  the  example  is  a  good  one. 


358     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

a  higher  power,  real  or  imagined.*  But  while  he  cast 
a  cloud  over  the  being  of  God  he  drove  his  despair- 
ing countrymen  to  the  worship  of  serpents  and  evil 
spirits.  In  Ceylon,  which  i^par  eminence  an  orthodox 
Buddhist  country,  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  population 
are  said  to  be  devil  worshippers,  and  the  devil  jug- 
glers are  patronized  even  by  the  Buddhist  monks.f 
As  the  philosophy  of  Gautama  was  above  the  com- 
prehension of  the  common  people,  so  his  example 
was  also  above  their  reach.  It  utterly  lacked  the 
element  of  trust,  and  involved  the  very  destruction 
of  society.  To  "  wander  apart  like  a  rhinoceros " 
and  "  be  silent  as  a  broken  gong  "  might  be  practi- 
cable for  a  chosen  few,  if  only  self  were  to  be  consid- 
ered, but  silence  and  isolation  are  not  worthy  ideals 
in  a  world  of  mutual  dependence  and  where  all  life's 
blessings  are  enhanced  by  the  ministries  of  the 
strong  to  the  necessities  of  the  weak.  Infinitely 
higher  was  the  example  of  Him  who  said,  "  My 
Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work ; "  and  who  ac- 
cordingly exhorted  his  disciples  to  work  while  the 
day  lasts.  Christ  prayed  not  that  they  should  be 
taken  out  of  the  world,  but  that  they  should  be  kept 
from  the  evil. 

*  "  Men  wanted  a  Father  in  heaven,  who  should  take  account  of 
their  efforts  and  assure  them  a  recompense.  Men  wanted  a  future 
of  righteousness,  in  which  the  earth  should  belong  to  the  feeble 
and  the  poor  ;  they  wanted  the  assurance  ihat  human  suffering 
is  not  all  loss,  but  that  beyond  this  sad  horizon,  dimmed  by  tears, 
are  happy  plains  where  sorrow  shall  one  day  find  its  consola- 
tion."— Renan,  Hibhert  Lectures^  p.  42. 

f  See  report  of  Missionary  Conference,  London,  1888,  vol.  1., 
p.  70. 


DIVINE  8UPBEMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    359 

Again  the  Buddlia's  life  furnished  but  a  poor  ex- 
ample in  the  domestic  duties.  His  abandonment  of 
his  wife  and  child  cannot  be  justified  upon  any  sound 
theory  of  life.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  merits 
of  celibacy  in  those  who  are  under  no  marriage  vows, 
the  abandonment  of  sacred  relations  once  formed 
must  be  considered  a  crime  against  all  society.  As 
Mohammed's  example  of  impurity  has  cast  a  blight 
over  all  Moslem  lands,  so  Gautama's  withdrawal  from 
his  home  has  borne,  and  is  still  bearing,  its  evil  fruit. 
In  Burmah  it  is  common  for  a  Buddhist  who  desires 
a  change  of  wives  to  abandon  his  family  for  the  sa- 
cred life  of  a  monastery,  where,  if  he  remains  but  a 
single  month,  he  sunders  the  old  relation  and  is  at 
liberty  to  form  a  new  one.  Good  men  are  disgusted, 
but  there  is  the  example  of  "  the  Blessed  One !  "  It 
will  be  admitted  that  in  comparison  with  Hinduism 
the  Buddhist  ethics  advanced  •  woman  to  a  higher 
social  condition,  but  when  modem  apologists  com- 
pare Gautama  with  Christ  there  are  many  contrasts 
which  cannot  be  disguised. 

In  some  respects  Socrates  stands  highest  among 
great  philosophers.  Mohammed's  career  cost  him 
nothing  but  gained  for  him  everything  that  man's 
earthly  nature  could  desire.  Gautama  made  only  a 
temporary  sacrifice ;  he  changed  lower  indulgences 
for  honor  and  renown,  and  died  at  a  ripe  old  age  sur- 
rounded by  loving  friends.  But  Socrates  resolutely 
and  calmly  suffered  martyrdom  for  his  principles. 
The  sublime  dignity  and  self-control  of  his  dying 
hours  will  never  cease  to  win  the  admiration  of  man- 
kind; yet  Socrates  was  by  no  means  a  complete  char- 


360    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

acter.  He  died  unto  himself  merely.  He  left  no 
gospel  of  peace  to  humanity.  His  influence,  how- 
ever pure,  could  not,  and  in  fact  did  not,  become  a 
diffusive  and  transforming  leaven,  either  in  his  own 
or  in  any  subsequent  generation.  The  late  Matthew 
Arnold  has  said,  "  The  radical  difference  between 
Jesus  and  Socrates  is  that  such  a  conception  as 
Paul's  (conception  of  faith)  would,  if  applied  to 
Socrates,  be  out  of  place  and  ineffective.  Socrates 
inspired  boundless  friendship  and  esteem,  but  the 
inspiration  of  reason  and  conscience  is  the  one  in- 
spiration which  comes  from  him  and  which  impels 
us  to  live  righteously  as  he  did.  A  penetrating  en- 
thusiasm of  love,  sympathy,  pity,  adoration,  rein- 
forcing the  inspiration  of  reason  and  duty  does  not 
belong  to  Socrates.  With  Jesus  it  is  different. 
On  this  point  it  is  needless  to  argue :  history  has 
proved.  In  the  midst  of  errors  the  most  prosaic, 
the  most  immoral,  the  most  unscriptural,  concern- 
ing God,  Christ,  and  righteousness,  the  immense 
emotion  of  love  and  sympathy  inspired  by  the  per- 
son and  character  of  Jesus  has  had  to  work  almost 
by  itseK  alone  for  righteousness,  but  it  has  worked 
wonders."  * 

This  tribute  to  the  completeness  and  power  of 
Christ's  personality  is  calculated  to  remind  one  of  a 
memorable  chapter  in  the  well-known  work  of  the 
late  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell,  entitled,  "  Nature  and  the 
Supernatural."  With  a  wonderful  power  it  por- 
trays Christ  as  rising  above  the  plane  of  merely 
human  characters — as  belonging   to  no  age  or  race 

*  8t  Paul  and  Protestantism,  p.  79,  quoted  by  Bishop  Carpenter. 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    361 

or  stage  of  civilization — as  transcendent  not  in 
some  oi  the  virtues,  but  in  them  all — as  never  sub- 
ject to  prejudice,  or  the  impulse  of  passion,  never 
losing  that  perfect  poise  which  it  has  been  impossi- 
ble for  the  greatest  of  men  to  achieve — as  possessed 
of  a  mysterious  magnetism  which  carried  conviction 
to  His  hearers  even  when  claiming  to  be  one  with  the 
Infinite — as  inspiring  thousands  with  a  love  which 
has  led  them  to  give  their  lives  for  His  cause.* 

I  have  often  thought  that  one  of  the  most  striking 
evidences  of  the  divine  reality  of  the  Christian  faith 
is  found  in  the  reflection  of  Christ's  personality  in 
the  character  and  life  of  the  apostle  Paul.f  No  one 
can  doubt  that  Paul  was  a  real  historic  personage, 
that  from  having  been  a  strict  and  influential  Jew  he 
became  a  follower  of  Jesus  and  gave  himself  to  His 
service  with  a  sublime  devotion ;  that  he  sealed  the 
sincerity  of  his  belief  by  a  life  of  marvellous  self- 

*It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  well-known 
tribute  which  Napoleon,  in  his  conversations  with  his  friends  on 
the  island  of  St.  Helena,  paid  to  the  transcendent  personality 
of  Christ.  He  drew  a  graphic  contrast  between  the  so-called 
glory  which  had  been  won  by  great  conquerors  like  Alexander, 
Csesar,  and  himself,  and  that  mysterious  and  all-mastering  power 
which  in  all  lands  and  all  ages  continues  to  attach  itself  to  the 
person,  the  name,  the  memory  of  Christ,  for  whom,  after  eigh- 
teen centuries  of  time,  millions  of  men  would  sacrifice  their 
lives. 

f  Augustine  appears  to  have  been  greatly  moved  by  the  life  as 
well  as  by  the  writings  of  Paul.  In  an  account  given  of  his  con- 
version to  his  friend  Romanianus,  he  says,  '*  So  then  stumbling, 
hurrying,  hesitating,  I  seized  the  apostle  Paul,  *for  never,*  said  I, 
'  could  they  have  wrought  such  things,  or  lived  as  it  is  plain  they 
did  live,  if  their  writings  and  arguments  were  opposed  to  this  so 
high  a  good.'  " — Confessions^  Bk.  vii.,  xxi.,  note. 


862     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

denial.  He  had  no  motive  for  acting  a  false  part  at 
such  cost ;  on  the  contrary,  an  unmistakable  genuine- 
ness is  stamped  upon  his  whole  career.  How  shall 
we  explain  that  career  ?  Where  else  in  the  world's 
history  have  we  seen  a  gifted  and  experienced  man, 
full  of  strong  and  repellant  prejudices,  so  stamped 
and  penetrated  by  the  personality  of  another  ? 

On  what  theory  can  we  account  for  such  a  change 
in  such  a  life,  except  that  his  own  story  of  his  con- 
version was  strictly  true,  that  he  had  felt  in  his 
inmost  soul  a  power  so  overwhelming  as  to  sweep 
away  his  prejudices,  humble  his  pride,  arm  him 
against  the  derision  of  his  former  friends,  and  pre- 
pare him  for  inevitable  persecution  and  for  the  mar- 
tyr death  of  which  he  was  forewarned?  So  vivid 
were  his  impressions  of  this  divine  personality  that 
it  seemed  almost  to  absorb  his  own.  Christ,  though 
He  had  ascended,  was  still  with  him  as  a  living  pres- 
ence. All  his  inspiration,  all  his  strength  came  from 
Him.  His  plans  and  purposes  centred  in  his  Divine 
Master,  and  his  only  ambition  was  to  be  found  well- 
pleasing  in  his  sight.  He  saw  all  types  and  prophe- 
cies fulfilled  in  Him  as  the  Son  of  God,  the  fulness 
of  His  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His  person. 
Paul  never  indulged  in  any  similes  by  which  to  ex- 
press the  glory  of  heaven ;  it  was  enough  that  we 
should  be  like  Christ  and  be  with  Him  where  He  is. 

The  writings  of  all  the  apostles  differ  from  the  books 
of  other  religions  in  the  fact  that  their  doctrines,  pre- 
cepts, and  exhortations  are  so  centred  in  their  divine 
Teacher  and  Saviour.  Buddha's  disciples  continued 
to  quote  their  Master,  but  Buddha  was  dead.    Theo- 


DIVINE  SUPBEMAGT  OF  0EBI8TIAN  FAITH    363 

retically  not  even  his  immortal  soul  survived.  He 
had  declared  that  when  his  bodily  life  should  cease 
there  would  be  nothing  left  of  which  it  could  be  said 
"lam." 

But  to  the  vivid  and  realizing  faith  of  Christ's  fol- 
lowers He  is  still  their  living  Head,  their  Interces- 
sor, their  Guide.  His  resurrection  is  the  warrant  of 
their  future  life.  He  has  gone  before  and  will  come 
again  to  receive  His  own.  Christianity  is  Christ: 
all  believers  are  members  of  His  mystic  body :  the 
Church  is  His  bride.  He  is  the  Alpha  and  the 
Omega  of  the  world's  history.  In  the  contemplation 
of  His  personality  as  the  chief  among  ten  thousand 
His  people  are  changed  into  His  image  as  from  glory 
to  glory.  The  ground  of  salvation  in  Christianity  is 
not  in  a  church,  nor  a  body  of  doctrines,  not  even  in 
the  teachings  of  the  Master  :  it  is  in  Christ  Himself 
as  a  humiliated  sacrifice  and  a  triumphant  Saviour. 

Second,  the  religion  of  the  Bible  differs  from  every 
other  in  its  completeness  and  scope — its  adaptation 
to  all  the  duties  and  experiences  of  life  and  to  all 
races  and  all  conditions  of  men.  It  alone  is  able  to 
meet  all  the  deep  and  manifold  wants  of  mankind. 
Hardwick  has  very  aptly  pointed  out  a  contrast  in 
this  respect  between  the  faith  of  Abraham  and  that 
of  the  early  Indo- Aryan  chiefs  as  portrayed  in  the 
Rig  Veda.  The  pressing  wants  of  humanity  neces- 
sitate a  faith  that  is  of  the  nature  of  a  heartfelt  trust. 
No  other  can  be  regarded  as  strictly  religious.  Now 
Abraham's  faith  was  something  more  than  a  specu- 
lation or  a  creed.  It  was  an  all-embracing  confidence 
in  God.  He  had  an  abiding  sense  of  His  presence  and 


364     ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

he  confided  in  Him  as  his  constant  guide,  defender, 
and  friend.  His  family,  his  flocks,  his  relations  to 
the  hostile  tribes  who  surrounded  him,  the  promised 
possession  of  the  land  to  which  he  journeyed — all 
these  were  matters  which  he  left  in  the  hands  of  an 
unseen  but  ever-faithful  friend.  His  was  a  practical 
faith — a  real  and  complete  venture,  and  it  involved 
gratitude  and  loyalty  and  love.  Abraham's  child- 
hood had  been  spent  in  the  home  of  an  idolatrous 
father ;  for  Shemite  as  well  as  Aryan  had  departed 
from  the  worship  of  the  true  God.  In  Chaldea,  as 
in  India,  men  had  come  to  worship  the  sun  and 
moon  and  the  forces  of  nature.  But  while  the  Hindu 
wandered  ever  farther  away  from  Jehovah,  Abraham 
restored  the  faith  which  his  ancestors  had  lost.  He 
had  no  recourse  to  Indra  or  Yaruna,  he  sought  no 
help  from  devas  or  departed  spirits.  He  looked  to 
God  alone,  for  he  had  heard  a  voice  saying,  "I  am  the 
Almighty  God,  walk  before  me  and  be  thou  perfect."  * 
Under  the  inspiration  of  such  a  summons  Abraham 
became  "  the  father  of  the  faithful."  He  was  the  rep- 
resentative and  exemplar  of  real  and  practical  faith, 
not  only  to  the  Hebrew  race  but  to  all  mankind. 
He  staked  his  all  upon  a  promise  which  he  regarded 
as  divine  and  therefore  sure.  He  believed  in  the 
Lord  and  He  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness. 
He  left  home  and  country  and  ventured  among  hos- 
tile tribes  in  an  assured  confidence  that  he  should 
gain  a  possession,  though  empty-handed,  and  a  count- 
less posterity,  though  yet  childless,  and  that  all  this 
would  be  granted  him  not  for  his  own  glory,  but  that 
*  Genesis,  xvii.  1. 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    365 

all  nations  might  be  blest  in  him.  And  this  subordi- 
nation of  seK  and  this  uplifting  of  his  soul  to  a  sublime 
hope  rendered  him  patient  when  fulfilment  seemed 
postponed,  and  strong  against  temptation  when  spoils 
and  emoluments  were  offered  him ;  for  in  some  sense, 
vague  perhaps,  he  foresaw  a  Messiah  and  a  Kingdom 
of  Eighteousness,  and  he  was  girded  with  confidence 
to  the  last,  though  he  died  without  the  sight. 

We  look  in  vain  for  anything  to  be  compared  with 
this  in  the  Vedic  literature,  still  less  in  that  of  the 
period  of  Brahmanical  sacerdotalism,  or  in  the  still 
later  speculations  of  the  philosophic  schools.  Eeal 
Hinduism  is  wanting  in  the  element  of  trust.  Its 
only  faith  is  a  belief,  a  theory,  a  speculation.  It  re- 
ceives nothing  and  expects  nothing  as  a  free  gift  of 
God.  Sacrificial  rites  survived  in  the  early  Vedic 
period,  but  they  had  lost  all  prophetic  significance. 
They  terminated  in  themselves  and  rested  upon  their 
own  value.  There  was  no  remembered  promise  and 
no  expectation  of  any  specific  fulfilment.  The  Hindu 
gained  simply  what  he  bought  with  his  merit  or  his 
offerings,  and  he  had  no  greater  sense  of  gratitude 
to  deity  than  to  the  tradesman  of  whom  he  made  a 
purchase  in  the  bazaar.  There  are,  indeed,  traces  in 
some  of  the  earliest  Vedic  hymns  of  a  feeling  of  de- 
pendence upon  superior  powers,  yet  the  Brahmanical 
priesthood  taught  men  that  he  who  was  rich  enough 
to  offer  a  sacrifice  of  a  hundred  horses  might  bank- 
rupt heaven,  and  by  his  simple  right  of  purchase  even 
rob  Indra  of  his  throne.*    As  stated  in  a  previous 

*  The  doctrine  of  human  merit-making  was  carried  to  such  an 
extreme  under  the  Brahmanical  system  that  the  gods  became 


366    ORIENTAL  BELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

lecture,  so  far  was  this  system  from  "the  faith  which 
works  by  love  "  that  even  demons,  by  costly  sacrifices 
might  dispute  the  supremacy  of  the  universe. 

There  is  an  equally  significant  contrast  between 
the  legislation  of  Moses  and  that  of  Manu.  The  life 
and  experience  of  the  former  are  interwoven  with  his 
statutes.  They  are  illustrated  with  references  to 
actual  events  in  the  history  of  the  people.  The 
blessings,  the  trials,  the  punishments,  the  victories, 
the  defeats  of  Israel  enter  into  the  texture  of  the 
whole  Mosaic  record  :  it  is  full  of  sympathetic  feel- 
ing ;  it  takes  hold  on  the  actual  life  of  men  and  there- 
fore is  able  to  reform  and  elevate  them.  It  brings 
not  only  Moses,  but  Jehovah  Himself  into  personal 
sympathy  with  the  people.  But  Manu  presents  stat- 
utes only.  Many  of  these  are  wholesome  as  laws, 
but  they  are  destitute  of  tenderness  or  compassion. 
No  indication  is  given  of  the  author's  own  experience, 
and  we  are  left  in  doubt  whether  there  were  not 
many  authors  to  whom  the  general  name  of  Manu 
was  applied.  There  is  no  inculcation  of  gratitude 
and  love  to  God,  or  any  hint  of  His  love  to  men.  No 
prayer,  no  song,  no  confession  of  dependence,  no 
tribute  of  praise,  no  record  of  trembling,  yet  trust- 
ful, experience.  It  is  all  cold,  lifeless  precept  and 
prohibition,  with  threats  of  punishment  here  and 
hereafter.  Religious  exaction  is  most  strict,  but 
there  are  few  religious  privilege's  except  for  Brah- 

afraid  of  its  power.  They  sometimes  found  it  necessary  to  send 
apsaras  (nymphs),  wives  of  genii,  to  tempt  the  most  holy  ascetics, 
lest  their  austerities  and  their  merit  should  proceed  too  far. — See 
Article  Brahmanism,  in  the  Britannica, 


DIVINE  SUPREMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH  367 

mans,  and  these  they  possess  by  divine  birthright. 
No  particular  favor  is  asked  from  any  being  in 
heaven  or  on  earth. 

With  respect  to  this  same  element  of  personal 
tmst  and  heartfelt  experience,  contrast  the  Psalmist 
also  with  any  author  whose  name  is  given  in  Hindu 
literature.  He  was  full  of  humanity,  large-hearted, 
loving,  grateful,  and  though  stained  by  sin,  yet  he 
was  so  penitent  and  humble  and  tender  that  he  was 
said  to  be  a  man  after  God's  own  heart.  He  was  a 
successful  warrior  and  a  great  king,  but  he  held  all 
his  honor  and  his  power  as  a  divine  gift  and  for  the 
Divine  glory.  Compare  the  CXIX.  Psalm  with  the 
Upanishads,  or  with  any  of  the  six  schools  of  philos- 
ophy. The  one  deals  with  moral'precepts  and  spir- 
itual aspirations,  all  the  others  with  subtle  theories 
of  creation  or  problems  of  the  universe.  The  one  is 
the  outflowing  of  joyous  experience  found  in  obe- 
dience to  God's  moral  law,  and  only  out  of  the  heart 
could  such  a  psalm  have  been  written.  The  law  of 
God  had  become  not  a  barrier  or  a  hamper,  but  a 
delight.  The  rapt  author  had  found  a  religion 
which  filled  every  avenue  and  met  every  want  of 
his  whole  being. 

Again,  only  the  religion  of  Christ  brings  man  into 
his  proper  relation  of  penitence  and  humility  before 
God.  It  is  necessary  to  the  very  conception  of  recon- 
ciliation to  a  higher  and  purer  being  that  wrong-do- 
ing shall  be  confessed.  All  the  leading  faiths  of  the 
world  have  traditions  of  the  fall  of  man  from  a  high- 
er and  holier  estate,  and  most  of  them — notably  Hin- 
duism, Buddhism,  ancient  Druidism,  and  the  Druse 


368    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  GHRISTIANITT 

religion  of  Mount  Lebanon — declare  that  the  fall  was 
the  result  of  pride  and  rebellion  of  spirit.  And  of 
necessity  the  wrong,  if  it  cannot  be  undone,  must  at 
least  be  confessed.  SeK-justification  is  perpetuation. 
The  offender  must  lay  aside  his  false  estimate  of  self 
and  admit  the  justice  whose  claims  he  has  violated. 
Even  in  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  men  this  prin- 
ciple is  universally  recognized.  There  can  be  no 
reconciliation  without  either  actual  reparation  or  at 
least  a  frank  acknowledgment.  Governmental  par- 
don always  implies  repentance  and  promised  reform, 
and  between  individuals  a  due  concession  to  violated 
principle  is  deemed  the  dictate  of  the  truest  honor. 
How  can  there  be  reconciliation  to  God,  then,  with- 
out repentance  and  humiliation  ?  Of  what  value  can 
heathen  asceticism  and  merit-making  be  while  the 
heart  is  still  barred  and  buttressed  with  self-right- 
eousness ?  The  longer  a  man  approaches  the  Holi- 
ness of  Deity  with  the  offerings  of  his  own  self- 
consequence  the  greater  does  the  enormity  of  his 
offence  become  and  the  wider  the  breach  which  he 
attempts  to  close. 

Even  if  he  could  render  a  perfect  obedience  and 
service  for  the  future,  he  could  never  overtake  the 
old  unsettled  score.  The  prodigal  cannot  recover 
the  squandered  estate  or  wipe  out  the  record  of  folly 
and  sin,  and  if  there  be  no  resource  of  free  remission 
on  the  one  hand,  and  no  deep  and  genuine  repentance 
on  the  other,  there  can  be  no  possible  adjustment. 
The  universal  judgment  and  conscience  of  men  so 
decide.  Philosophers  may  present  this  method  and 
that  of  moral  culture  and  assimilation  to  the  char- 


DIVINE  8UPREMA0T  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    369 

acter  of  the  Infinite,  bnt  practically  all  men  will  ap- 
prove the  philosophy  taught  in  Christ's  touching 
parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  The  beauty,  the  force, 
the  propriety  of  its  principles  strike  the  human  un- 
derstanding, whether  of  the  sage  or  of  the  savage,  like 
a  flash  of  sunlight,  and  no  human  heart  can  fail  to 
be  touched  by  its  lessons.  Yet  where  in  all  the  wide 
waste  of  heathen  faiths  or  philosophies  is  there  any- 
thing which  even  remotely  resembles  the  story  of 
the  Prodigal  ?  Where  ^s  the  system  in  which  such 
an  incident  and  such  a  lesson  would  not  be  wholly 
out  of  place  ? 

In  that  ancient  book  of  the  Egyptian  religion 
known  as  "  The  Book  of  the  Dead,"  the  souls  of  the 
departed  when  arraigned  before  the  throne  of  Osiris 
are  represented  as  all  joining  in  one  refrain  of  seK- 
exculpation,  uttering  such  pleas  as  these :  "  I  have 
not  offended  or  caused  others  to  offend."  "  I  have 
not  snared  ducks  illegally  on  the  Nile."  "  I  have  not 
used  false  weights  or  measures."  "I  have  not  de- 
frauded my  neighbor  by  unjustly  opening  the  sluices 
upon  my  own  land !  "  Any  sense  of  the  in  ward  char- 
acter of  sin  or  any  conception  of  wrong  attitudes  of 
mind  or  heart  toward  God  is  utterly  wanting.  It  is 
simply  the  plea  of  "  not  guilty,"  which  even  the  most 
hardened  culprit  may  make  in  court.  In  one  of  the 
Vedic  hymns  to  Varuna  there  is  something  which 
looks  like  confession  of  sin,  but  it  really  ends  in 
palliation.  "  It  was  not  our  doing,  O  Varuna,  it  was 
necessity;  an  intoxicating  draught,  passion,  dice, 
thoughtlessness.     The  old  is  there  to  mislead  the 

young.     Even  sleep  brings  unrighteousness."    And 
24 


370    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

the  remission  sought  for  is  not  one  involving  a  change 
of  character  but  only  release  from  an  external  bond. 
"  Absolve  us  from  the  sins  of  our  fathers  and  from 
those  which  we  committed  with  our  own  bodies. 
Eelease  Vasishtha,  O  King,  like  a  thief  who  has 
feasted  on  stolen  oxen.  Eelease  him  like  a  caK  from 
the  rope.""^ 

In  the  Penitential  Psalms  of  the  ancient  Akkadi- 
ans, who  inhabited  Northern  Assyria  in  the  times 
of  Abraham,  and  who  may  have  retained  something 
of  that  true  faith  from  which  Abraham's  father  had 
declined,  we  find  a  nearer  approach  to  true  penitence, 
but  that  also  lacks  the  inner  sense  of  sin  and  seeks 
merely  an  exemption  from  punishments. 

Only  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  is  sin  recog- 
nized as  of  the  nature  of  personal  guilt.  Accord- 
ingly, Christianity  alone  recognizes  the  fact  that  right 
thoughts  and  motives  and  a  worthy  character  are 
the  gifts  of  God.  Cicero  has  truly  remarked  f  that 
men  justly  thank  God  for  external  blessings,  but 
never  for  virtue,  or  talent,  or  character.  All  that  is 
regarded  as  their  own.  And  such  is  the  conceit  of 
human  self -righteousness  in  all  man-made  religions, 
whether  Hindu  or  Greek,  ancient  or  modern.  Philos- 
ophy is  in  its  very  nature  haughty  and  aristocratic. 
Even  Plato  betrays  this  element.  It  is  only  the 
Christian  apostle  that  is  heard  to  say,  with  heartfelt 
emotion,  "  By  the  grace  of  God  1  am  what  I  am." 
The  Buddha  declared  that  he  recognized  no  being  in 
any  world  to  whom  he  owed  any  special  reverence ; 

*  Miiller,  Chips  from  a  German  WorJcsJiop,  vol.  i.,  p.  40. 
f  De  Nat.  Deorum,  iii. ,  36. 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  0HBI8TIAN  FAITH   371 

and  especially  in  his  later  years,  when  his  disciples 
had  come  to  look  upon  him  as  in  a  sense  divine,  he 
regarded  himself  as  the  highest  of  all  intelligences  on 
the  earth  or  in  the  various  heavens.  Such  assump- 
tions in  both  Buddha  and  Confucius  will  explain  the 
fact  that  for  ages  both  have  been  virtually  worshipped. 
"  At  fifteen,"  said  Confucius,  "  I  had  my  mind  bent 
on  learning.  At  thirty  I  stood  firm.  At  forty  I  had 
no  doubt.  At  fifty  I  knew  the  decrees  of  Heaven. 
At  sixty  my  ear  was  an  obedient  organ  for  the  recep- 
tion of  truth.  At  seventy  I  could  follow  what  my 
heart  desired  without  transgressing  what  was  right."  ^ 
Yet  neither  of  these  great  teachers  claimed  to  be  a 
divine  Saviour.  They  were  simply  exemplars  ;  their 
self  -  righteousness  was  supposed  to  be  attainable 
by  all. 

I  cannot  do  better  in  this  connection  than  point 
out  a  striking  contrast  in  the  recorded  experiences 
of  two  well-known  historic  characters.  Islam  honors 
David,  King  of  Israel,  and  accords  him  a  place  among 
its  accredited  prophets.  Both  David  and  Moham- 
med were  guilty  of  adultery  imder  circumstances  of 
peculiar  aggravation.  Mohammed  covered  his  offence 
by  a  blasphemous  pretence  of  special  revelations 
from  God,  justifying  his  crime  and  chiding  him  for 
such  qualms  of  conscience  as  he  had.  David  lay  in 
dust  and  ashes  while  he  bemoaned  not  only  the  con- 
sequences of  his  sin  and  the  breach  of  justice  toward 
his  neighbor,  but  also  the  deep  spiritual  offence  of  his 
act.  "  Against  Thee,  and  Thee  only,  O  God,  have  I 
sinned,  and  done  this  evil  in  Thy  sight."  Profound- 
*  Chips  from  a  Oerman  Workshop,  p.  304. 


372    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

est  penitence  on  tlie  one  hand  and  Heaven-daring 
blasphemy  on  the  other,  the  Bible  and  the  Koran 
being  witnesses ! 

Another  marked  distinction  is  seen  in  the  moral 
purity  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  as  contrasted  with 
the  so-called  sacred  books  of  all  other  religions. 
That  which  is  simply  human  will  naturally  be  ex- 
pected to  show  the  moral  taint  of  lapsed  humanity. 
The  waters  cannot  rise  higher  than  the  fountain-head, 
nor  can  one  gather  figs  from  thistles.  In  our  social 
intercourse  with  men  we  sooner  or  later  find  out 
their  true  moral  level.  And  so  in  what  is  written, 
the  exact  grade  of  the  author  will  surely  appear. 
And  it  is  by  this  very  test  that  we  can  with  tolerable 
accuracy  distinguish  the  human  from  the  divine  in 
religious  records.  It  is  not  difficult  to  determine 
what  is  from  heaven  and  what  is  of  the  earth. 

No  enlightened  reader  of  Greek  mythology  can 
proceed  far  without  discovering  that  he  is  dealing 
with  the  prurient  and  often  lascivious  imaginings  of 
semi-barbarous  poets.  He  finds  the  poetry  and  the 
art  of  Greece  both  reflecting  the  character  of  a  pas- 
sionate people,  bred  under  a  southern  sun  and  in  an 
extremely  sensuous  age.  If  he  ventures  into  the 
lowest  depths  of  the  popular  religious  literature  of 
Greece  or  Eome,  or  ancient  Egypt  or  Phoenicia,  he 
finds  unspeakable  vice  enshrined  among  the  myster- 
ies of  religion,  and  corruptions  which  an  age  of  re- 
finement refuses  to  translate  or  depict  abound  on 
every  hand.  Or  apply  the  same  test  to  the  literature 
of  Hinduism,  even  in  its  earliest  and  purest  stages. 
The  sacred  Vedas,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been 


DIVINE  SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    373 

breathed  into  the  souls  of  ancient  rishis  by  direct  di- 
vine effluence,  are  tainted  here  and  there  by  debasing ,  ■ 
human  elements,  and  that  not  incidentally  but  as  the 
very  soul  of  the  Hindu  system.  For  example,  when 
the  Vedic  hymns  promise  as  future  rewards  the  low- 
est sensual  indulgences  *  none  can  doubt  the  earthly 
source  of  their  inspiration.  As  for  the  Upanishads, 
which  are  regarded  as  Sruti  or  inspired.  Professor 
Max  Miiller,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  first  volume 
of  "  The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  virtually  admits 
the  impropriety  of  translating  them  for  English 
readers  without  expurgation.  Mr.  Eam  Chandra 
Bose,  of  Lucknow,  declares  himself  unable,  for  the 
same  reason,  to  give  a  full  and  unabridged  account 
of  the  ancient  Hindu  sacrifices,  f  The  later  litera- 
tures of  the  Puranas  and  the  Tantras  are  lower 
still.  Anti-Christian  Orientalists  have  so  generally 
conveyed  the  popular  impression  that  their  culled 
and  expurgated  translations  were  fair  representations 
of  Hindu  literature  that  Wilson  finally  felt  called 
upon  in  the  interest  of  truth  and  honesty  to  lift  the 
veil  from  some  of  the  later  revelations  of  the  Puranas, 
and  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  Greek  mythology 
is  fairly  outdone  by  the  alleged  and  repeated  esca- 
pades of  the  chief  Hindu  deities. 

The  traditions  of  all  ancient  religions  found  on 
either  hemisphere,  and  the  usages  observed  among 
savage  tribes  of  to-day  all  conform  to  the  same  low 
moral  gauge.  All  are  as  deplorably  human  as  the 
degraded  peoples  who  devised  them.  In  Mexica  and 
Peru,  as  well  as  in  Egypt  and  in  Babylonia,  base  hu- 

*  See  Murdock's  Vedic  Religion^  p.  57.         f  Hindu  PJiUosophy. 


374    ORIENTAL  RELIOIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

man  passion  was  mingled  with  the  highest  teachings 
of  religion.^  Buddhism  has  generally  been  consid- 
ered an  exception  to  this  general  rule,  and  it  will  be 
confessed  that  its  influence  has  been  vastly  higher 
than  that  of  the  old  Hinduism,  or  the  religions  of 
Canaan,  or  Greece,  or  Bome,  and  immeasurably 
higher  in  morals  than  that  of  Islam  ;  yet  even  Buddh- 
ism has  been  colored  by  its  European  advocates 
with  far  too  roseate  a  hue.  Sir  Edwin  Arnold  was 
not  the  first  biographer  of  Gautama  to  glorify  inci- 
dentally the  seductive  influences  of  his  Indian  harem, 
and  to  leave  on  too  many  minds  the  impression  that, 
after  aU,  the  luxurious  palace  of  Sidartha  was  more 
attractive  than  the  beggars'  bowl  of  the  enlightened 
"  Tathagata."  The  Bishop  of  Colombo,  in  an  able 
article  on  Buddhism,  arraigns  the  apologetic  trans- 
lators of  Buddhistic  literature  for  having  given  to  the 
world  an  altogether  erroneous  impression  of  the 
moral  purity  of  the  Sacred  Books  of  Ceylon. f 

The  vaunted  claim  that  the  early  Buddhist  records, 
and  especially  the  early  rock  inscriptions  found  in 
caves,  are  pure,  whatever  corruptions  may  have  crept 
into  more  modem  manuscripts,  is  weU  met  by  let- 
ters from  a  recent  traveller,  which  speak  of  certain 
Buddliist  inscriptions  so  questionable  in  character 
that  they  cannot  be  translated  or  described.  J 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  for  me  to  speak  of  the  base 
appeal  to  man's  low  passions  found  in  the  Koran. 

*  The  most  sacred  of  human  victims  offered  by  the  Aztecs  were 
prepared  by  a  month  of  unbridled  lust.     See  Prescott's  Conquest, 
f  Nineteenth  Centm^,  July,  1888. 
X  Letters  of  Rev.  Pentecost  in  The  Christian  at  Work,  1891. 


DIVINE  8UPREMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    375 

It  is  only  necessary  to  trace  its  unmistakable  influ- 
ence in  the  moral  degeneracy  of  Mohammedan  pop- 
ulations in  all  lands  and  all  ages — destroying  the  sa- 
credness  of  the  home,  degrading  woman,  engendering 
unnatural  vices,  and  poisoning  all  society  from  gen- 
eration to  generation.  It  is  indeed  a  hard  task  for 
its  apologists,  by  any  kind  of  literary  veneering  to 
cover  the  moral  deformity  and  the  blasphemous 
wickedness  which,  side  by  side  with  acknowledged 
excellences,  mar  the  pages  of  the  Koran.  The  soiled 
finger-marks  of  the  sensual  Arab  everywhere  defile 
them.  Like  the  blood  of  Banquo,  they  defy  all 
ocean's  waters  to  wash  them  out.  It  was  easy 
enough  for  Mohammed  to  copy  many  exalted  truths 
from  Judaism  and  Christianity,  and  no  candid  mind 
will  deny  that  there  are  many  noble  precepts  in  the 
Koran ;  but  after  all  has  been  said,  its  ruling  spirit 
is  base.  Even  its  promised  heaven  is  demoralizing. 
It  is  characteristically  a  human  book,  and  very  low 
in  the  ethical  scale  at  that. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  Bible ;  let  us  remember 
that  the  Old  Testament  represents  those  early  cen- 
turies when  the  people  of  Israel  were  surrounded  by 
the  corruptions  of  Baal  worship,  which  transcended 
the  grovelling  wickedness  of  all  other  heathen  sys- 
tems, ancient  or  modem.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  the 
kind  of  training  which  the  nation  had  received  amid 
the  corruptions  of  Egypt,  all  rendered  more  effec- 
tive for  evil  by  their  degrading  bondage ;  and  with 
all  these  disadvantages  in  view,  let  us  search  every- 
where, from  Genesis  to  Malachi,  and  see  if  there  be 
one  prurient  utterance,  one  sanction  for,  or  even  con- 


376    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

nivance  at,  impurity  in  all  those  records,  written  by- 
men  in  different  lands  and  ages,  men  representing 
all  social  grades,  all  vocations  in  life,  and  chosen 
from  among  all  varieties  of  association.  Who  will 
deny  that  these  men  appear  to  have  been  raised  by 
some  unaccountable  power  to  a  common  level  of 
moral  purity  which  was  above  their  age,  their  social 
standards,  their  natural  impulses,  or  any  of  the  high- 
est human  influences  which  could  have  been  exerted 
upon  them  ? 

They  were  often  called  to  deal  plainly  with  moral 
evils.  They  record  instances  of  grievous  dereliction, 
in  some  cases  the  writers  were  themselves  the  offend- 
ers. But  there  is  always  reproof.  The  story  always 
has  a  salutary  moral.  Sin  is  always  shown  to  be  a  los- 
ing game,  a  sowing  to  the  wind  and  a  reaping  of  the 
whirlwind.  It  is  either  followed  by  severe  judg- 
ments, or  it  is  repented  of  with  a  contrition  which 
bows  even  a  great  monarch  in  dust  and  ashes. 

The  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  also 
written  in  an  age  of  great  moral  corruption.  Juda- 
ism was  virtually  dead ;  the  current  religion  in  the 
Holy  City  was  "  a  sad  perversion  of  the  tnith."  Hy- 
pocrisy sat  in  high  places  when  John  Baptist  came 
with  his  protest  and  his  rebukes.  The  Herods,  who 
held  the  sceptres  of  provincial  authority,  were  either 
base  time-servers,  or  worse,  they  were  monsters  of 
lust  and  depravity.  In  the  far-off  capitals  of  the 
dominant  heathen  races  vice  had  attained  its  full 
fruitage  and  was  already  going  to  seed  and  conse- 
quent decay.  Athens,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  and  An- 
tioch  were  steeped  in  iniquity,  while  the  emperors 


DIVINE  SUPREMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    377 

who  wielded  the  sceptre  of  the  Koman  empire  were 
hastening  the  ruin  of  the  existing  civilization.     It 
was  in  such  an  age  and  amid  such  surroundings  that 
the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles  came  forth  as  the  lotus 
springs,  pure  and  radiant  from  the  foul  and  fetid 
quagmire.     What  could  have  produced  them  ?     The 
widely  accepted  rule  that  religions  are  the  products 
of  their  environments  is  surely  at  fault  here.  Neither 
in  the  natural  impulses  of  a  dozen  Judean  fishermen 
and  peasants,  nor  in  the  bigoted  breast  of  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  could  these  unique  and  sublime  conceptions 
have  found  their  genesis.     They  are  manifestly  di- 
vine.    How  exalted  is  the  portraiture  of  the  Christ ! 
What  human  skill  could  have  depicted  a  character 
which  no  ideal  of  our  best  modem  culture  can  equal  ? 
In  all  the  New  Testament  there  are  none  but  the 
highest  and  purest  ethical  teachings,  and  even  the 
most  poetical  descriptions  of  heaven  are  free  from  any 
faintest  tinge  of  human  folly.     The  Apocalypse  is  full 
of  images  which  appeal  to  the  senses,  but  there  is 
nothing  which  does  not  minister  to  the  most  rigid  pu- 
rity ;  while  the  representations  which  Paul  makes  of 
eternal  felicity  are  strictly  and  conspicuously  spiritual 
and  elevating.     Everywhere,  from  Matthew  to  Reve- 
lations, it  is  the  pure  in  heart  who  shall  see  God,  and 
the  inducement  held  out  is  to  be  pure  because  He  is 
pure.     And  although  the  gift  of  eternal  life  is  a  free 
gift,  yet  it  affords  no  excuse  for  laxity.     The  sixth 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  a  remon- 
strance against  all  presumption  in  those   that  are 
"under  grace."     "  Reckon  ye  yourselves  to  be  dead 
indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through  our  Lord 


378    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Jesus  Christ.  Let  not  sin  therefore  mle  in  your 
mortal  body  that  ye  should  obey  it  in  the  lusts  there- 
of. Neither  yield  ye  your  members  as  instruments 
of  unrighteousness  unto  sin,  but  yield  yourselves  unto 
God  as  those  that  are  alive  from  the  dead."*  The 
religion  of  the  New  Testament  is  a  spiritual  religion, 
the  resurrection  body  is  a  spiritual  body ;  heaven  is 
not  an  Indian  hunting-ground,  nor  a  Yikings  Val- 
halla of  shield-clad  warriors,  nor  a  Moslem  harem.  It 
is  a  spiritual  abode,  and  its  companionships  are  with 
God  and  the  Lamb,  with  the  church  of  the  first-bom 
and  of  saints  made  perfect.  Now,  all  that  we  can  say 
of  these  lofty  and  pure  conceptions  is  that  flesh  and 
blood  never  revealed  them.  They  are  divine.  They 
are  out  of  the  range  of  our  native  humanity ;  they 
are  not  the  things  that  human  nature  desires,  and  it 
is  only  by  the  high  culture  of  transforming  grace 
that  human  aspirations  are  raised  to  their  level. 

In  conclusion,  there  are  many  points  in  which 
Christianity  asserts  its  unique  supremacy  over  all 
other  systems  of  which  there  is  time  but  for  the  brief- 
est mention.  It  presents  to  man  the  only  cultus 
which  can  have  universal  adaptation.  Christ  only, 
belongs  to  all  ages  and  all  races.  Buddha  is  but  an 
Asiatic,  Mohammed  is  an  Arab  and  belongs  only  to 
the  East.  The  religion  or  philosophy  of  Confucius 
has  never  found  adaptation  to  any  but  Mongolian 
races  ;  his  social  and  political  pyramid  would  crum- 
ble in  contact  with  republican  institutions.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  religion  of  Christ  is  not  only  adapted 

♦The  same  principles  are  set  forth  with  great  emphasis  in 
Isaiah,  Chap.  lii. 


DIVINE  8UPBEMAGT  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH    379 

to  all  races,  but  it  aims  at  their  miion  in  one  great 
brotherhood.  Again,  Christianity  alone  presents  the 
tme  relation  between  Divine  help  and  human  effort. 
It  does  not  invest  man-ed  and  crippled  human  nat- 
ure with  a  false  and  impossible  independence,  neither 
does  it  crush  it.  Whenever  heathen  systems  have 
taught  a  salvation  by  faith  they  have  lost  sight  of 
moral  obligation.  "Weitbrecht  and  others  state  this 
as  a  fact  with  the  Hindu  doctrine  of  Bakti  (faith) 
adopted  in  the  later  centuries;  De  Quatrefages  as- 
serts the  same  of  the  Tahitans.  But  the  faith  of  the 
New  Testament  everywhere  supposes  a  Divine  and  ef- 
fectual co-operation.  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in 
you  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure."  It  bids 
men  serve  not  as  hirelings,  but  as  sons  and  heirs ;  it 
stimulates  hope  without  engendering  pride ;  it  ad- 
ministers discipline,  but  with  a  father's  love;  it 
teaches  that  trials  are  not  judgments,  but  wholesome 
lessons.  Of  all  religions  it  alone  inculcates  a  rational 
and  consoling  doctrine  of  Providence.  It  declares 
that  to  the  righteous  death  is  not  destruction,  but  a 
sleep  in  peace  and  hope.  It  bids  the  Christian  lay 
off  his  cares  and  worries — in  all  things  making  his 
requests  known  imto  God  with  thanksgivings ;  and  yet 
it  enjoins  him  not  to  rest  in  sloth,  but  to  aspire  after 
all  that  is  pure  and  true  and  honorable  and  lovely 
and  of  good  report  in  human  life  and  conduct.  It 
saves  him  from  sin  not  by  the  stifling  and  atrophy 
of  any  God-given  power,  but  by  the  expulsive  influ- 
ence of  new  affections  ;  it  bids  him  be  pure  even  as 
God  is  pure. 


380    ORIENTAL  RELIGIONS  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

There  is  in  the  brief  epistle  of  Paul  to  Titus  a  pas- 
sage which  in  a  single  sentence  sets  forth  the  way  of 
salvation  in  its  fulness.  It  traces  redemption  to  the 
grace  of  God,  and  it  makes  it  a  free  provision  for  all 
men;  yet  it  insists  upon  carefulness  and  sobriety. 
Salvation  is  shown  to  begin  now  in  the  laying  aside 
of  all  sin  and  the  living  of  a  godly  life.  Meanwhile 
it  cheers  the  soul  with  expectation  that  Christ  shall 
dwell  with  the  redeemed  in  triumph,  as  He  once 
came  in  humiliation,  and  it  keeps  ever  in  mind  the 
great  truth  that  His  mission  is  not  merely  to  secure 
for  man  future  exemptions  and  possessions,  but  to 
build  up  character — character  that  shall  continue  to 
rise  and  expand  forever. 

For  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation  hath 
appeared  to  all  men,  teaching  us  that,  denying  ungodli- 
ness and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  soberly,  right- 
eously, and  godly,  in  this  present  world  ;  looking  for 
that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  appearing  of  the 
great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ;  who  gave 
Himself  for  us  that  He  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniq- 
uity, and  purify  unto  Himself  a  peculiar  people  zealous 
of  good  works. 


APPENDIX 

BOOKS    OF    REFEEENCE 

The  books  relating  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  wide  range 
of  topics  discussed  in  the  following  lectures  are  too  numer- 
ous for  citation  here ;  but  there  are  some  which  are  so  es- 
sential to  a  thorough  knowledge  of  comparative  religion  and 
comparative  philosophy,  that  a  special  acknowledgment  is 
due. 

"  The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East "  are  indispensable  to  one 
who  would  catch  the  real  spirit  of  the  Oriental  religions. 
The  translations  from  Hindu,  Buddhist,  Mohammedan,  Con- 
fucian, and  Zoroastrian  literatures,  by  Max  Miiller,  Rhys 
Davids,  Oldenberg,  Fausb611,  Palmer,  Darmesteter,  Mills, 
Legge,  Buhler,  West,  Beal,  and  other  able  scholars,  are  in- 
valuable. The  various  other  works  of  Max  Miiller,  *'The 
Science  of  Religion,"  "  Chips  from  a  German  Workshop," 
"  The  Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion,"  *'  Physical  Religion," 
etc.,  fill  an  important  place  in  all  study  of  these  subjects. 

"Indian  Wisdom,"  by  Sir  Monier  Williams,  is  the  most 
comprehensive,  and  in  many  ways  the  best,  of  all  compends 
of  Hindu  religion  and  philosophy.  His  abridged  work, 
'*  Hinduism,"  and  the  larger  volume  entitled  "  Brahmanism 
and  Hinduism,"  are  also  valuable.  R.  C.  Bose  has  given  to 
the  public  an  able  treatise  entitled  "Hindu  Philosophy." 
Other  books  on  Hinduism  to  which  more  or  less  reference  is 
made,  are:  "The  Vedic  Religion,"  by  McDonald;  "India 
and  the  Indians,"  by  Duff;  **The  Life  and  Letters  of  Col- 
brooke  ; "  "  The  Bhagavad  Gita,"  as  translated  by  Chatterji ; 
"The  Vishnu  Puranas,"  by  Wilson;  **The  Ramayana,"  by 


382  APPENDIX 

Griffiths  ;  «*  Brahmoism,"  by  Bose  ;  '*  The  Oriental  Christ,*' 
by  Mozoomdar ;  "  Christianity  and  Hindu  Philosophy,*'  by 
Ballantyne. 

Among  the  ablest  books  on  Buddhism  are  :  *•  Buddhism  ;  '* 
"The  Growth  of  Religion  as  illustrated  by  Buddhism,"  and 
the  able  article  on  the  same  subject  in  the  "Britannica  " — all 
by  Rhys  Davids.  "Buddha:  His  Life,  Character,  and  Or- 
der,'* by  Professor  Oldenberg,  is  a  scarcely  less  important 
Qontribution  to  Buddhist  literature.  "  The  Light  of  Asia," 
by  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  has  done  more  than  any  other  work  to 
interest  Western  nations  in  the  legends  of  Gautama ;  per- 
haps no  other  Oriental  character  has  been  more  successfully 
popularized.  Of  the  many  efforts  to  correct  the  misleading 
impressions  given  by  this  fanciful  but  really  poetic  story, 
**The  Light  of  Asia  and  the  Light  of  the  World,"  by  Dr.  S. 
H.  Kellogg,  is  probably  the  ablest.  Dr.  Edkins,  in  "Chi- 
nese Buddhism,'*  and  Professor  Beal,  in  "  Buddhism  in 
China,"  have  very  successfully  shown  the  characteristics  of 
the  Chinese  types  of  the  system.  Spence  Hardy,  in  his 
"Manual  of  Buddhism,"  has  rendered  a  similar  service  in 
relation  to  the  Buddhism  of  Ceylon,  while  Bigandet  has 
set  forth  that  of  Burmah,  and  Alabaster  that  of  Siam.  Sir 
Monier  Williams,  in  his  more  recent  work,  "Buddhism," 
has  done  much  to  counteract  the  fashionable  tendency  of 
most  Orientalists  to  idealize  the  Buddhist  system. 

Other  works  relating  to  Buddhism  are,  "  Mohammed, 
Buddha,  and  Christ,"  by  Dodds ;  "  Buddhism  (Modem),"  by 
Subhadra;  and  "Esoteric  Buddhism,"  by  Sinnett.  Maur- 
ice, Bishop  Carpenter,  Brace,  the  Bishop  of  Colombo,  Mar- 
tin, and  many  others  have  ably  discussed  the  subject. 

Of  all  works  on  Mohammedanism,  Sale's  translation  of 
the  Koran,  with  a  "Preliminary  Discourse,"  is  the  most 
comprehensive  and  important.  Sprenger's  "Life  of  Mo- 
hammed, from  Original  Sources,"  is  perhaps  next  in  rank. 
"  Islam  and  Mahomet,"  by  Samuel  Johnson  ;  "  Mohammed 
and  Mohammedanism,"  by  R.  Bosworth  Smith ;  "  Christian- 
ity, Islam,  and  the  Negro  Race,*'  by  E.  W.  Blyden ;  and 
"  Leaves  from  an  Egyptian  Note-book,"  by  Canon  Isaac  Tay- 


APPENDIX  383 

lor,  are  among  the  principal  apologies  for  Islam.  Gibbon's 
fifth  volume  of  the  "Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  " 
has  at  least  done  ample  justice  to  the  glory  of  the  Moham- 
medan conquest. 

Of  those  who  have  ably  controverted  the  claims  of  Islam, 
the  late  Dr.  Pfander,  of  Northern  India,  will  perhaps  hold 
the  first  rank.  Of  the  three  Moulvies  who  were  selected  to 
meet  him  in  public  discussion,  two  are  said  to  have  been 
converted  to  Christianity  by  his  arguments.  The  conces- 
sions of  the  Koran  to  the  truths  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments have  been  ably  pointed  out  by  Sir  William  Muir  in 
"  The  Koran,"  and  Dr.  E.  M.  Wherry,  in  his  "Commentary,'* 
has  established  the  striking  fact,  that  of  all  the  prophets 
named  in  the  Koran,  including  Mohammed,  Jesus  alone  is 
represented  as  sinless.  The  modem  apologists  of  Moham- 
med and  his  system  have  been  well  answered  by  Knox  in 
current  numbers  of  the  Church  Missionary  Intelligencer, 
Other  works  upon  the  subject  are  "Islam,"  by  Stobart ; 
'*  Islam  as  a  Missionary  Religion,"  by  Haines ;  "  Essays  on 
Eastern  Questions,"  by  Palgrave.  Sir  William  Muir's  "His- 
tory of  the  Caliphate  "  is  an  important  and  recent  work. 

Confucianism  and  Taouism  may  be  fairly  understood,  even 
by  those  who  have  not  the  time  for  a  careful  study  of  Legge's 
translations  of  the  Chinese  classics,  by  reference  to  the  fol- 
lowing works:  ** China  and  the  Chinese,"  by  Medhurst ; 
"The  Religions  of  China,"  by  Legge  ;  "  The  Chinese,"  by 
Martin;  "  Confucianism  and  Taouism,"  by  Douglass  ;  **  Re- 
ligion in  China,"  by  Edkins.  The  late  Samuel  Johnson,  in 
his  "  Oriental  Religions,*'  has  devoted  a  large  volume  to  the 
religions  of  China,  principally  to  the  ethics  and  political 
economy  of  the  Confucian  system ;  and  James  Freeman  Clark 
has  given  considerable  attention  to  Confucianism  as  one  of 
*•  The  Ten  Great  Religions." 

Zoroastrianism  is  ably  treated  by  Darmesteter  in  the  In- 
troduction to  his  translation  of  the  "  Zend  Avesta."  Instruc- 
tive lectures  on  the  religion  and  literature  of  Persia  may  be 
found  in  the  first  volume  of  Max  Miiller's  "  Chips  from  a 
German  Workshop ; "  also  in  "  The  Religion  of  the  Iranians," 


384 


APPENDIX 


found  in  Ebrard's  ^'Apologetics," vol.  ii.  West's  and  Dar- 
mesteter's  translations  of  "Pahlavi  Texts,"  in  the  "  Sacred 
Books  of  the  East,"  are  also  suggestive. 

In  the  following  discussions,  relating  broadly  to  the  an- 
cient as  well  as  the  modern  religions  and  philosophies  of  the 
world,  and  their  contrasts  to  Christian  truth,  reference  is 
made  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  following  works  :  -Christ 
and  Other  Masters,"  by  Hardwick ;    "The  Ancient  World 
and  Christianity,"  by  Edward  de  Pressensg;    "  The  Relig- 
ions  of  the  World,"  by  Maurice ;  »  The  Aryan  Witness,"  by 
Banergea;  "  The  Unknown  God,"  by  Brace  ;  "  The  Perma- 
nent  Elements  in  Religion,"  by  Boyd  Carpenter ;  -  Oriental 
and  Linguistic  Studies,"  by  A.  D.  Whitney  ;  -The  Doomed 
Religions,"  by  Reid;  "The  Idea  of  God,"  by  Fiske  ;  ^'The 
Destiny  of  Man,"  by  Fiske;    -The  Races  of  Man,"  by 
Peschel;  -Introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,"  by 
Caird;  **  National  Religions  and  Universal  Religions'"  by 
Kuenen  ;  -  Some  Elements  of  Religion,"  by  Liddon  ;  -  Out- 
lines of  the  History  of  Ancient  Religions,  by  Tiele ;  *'  The 
PhUosophy  of  Religion,"  by  Pfleiderer;    -Our  Christian 
Heritage,"    by    Cardinal    Gibbons;     -Hulsean    Lectures, 
1845-6,"  by  Trench  ;  *'  Hibbert  Lectures,  1880,"  by  Renan  ; 
**  Origins  of  English  History,"  by  Elton  ;  -  St.  Paul  in  Brit- 
ain"  (Druidism),  by  Morgan  ;  «  Fossil  Men  and  their  Mod- 
em Representatives,"  by  Dawson;  -Modem  Ideas  of  Evo- 
lution,"   by    Dawson;     -Marcus    Aurelius,"    by    Renan; 
*'Epictetus,"  Bohn's  Library;    *' Confessions,"  by  St.  Au- 
gustine;   *' History  of  the  Egyptian  Religion,"  by  Tiele; 
"Lucretius,"  Bohn's  Library;  -Lives  of  the  Fathers,"  by 
Farrar ;  "The  Vikings  of  Western  Christendom,"  by  Keary ; 
"Principles  of  Sociology,"  by  Spencer;  -The  Descent  of 
Man,"  by  Darwin  ;  -Evolution  and  Its -Relation  to  Christian 
Thought,"  by  Le  Conte ;  "  History  of  European  Morals,"  by 
Lecky ;  *'The  Kojiki"  (Sacred  Books  of  Shinto),  Chamber- 
Iain's  translation ;  -  The  Witness  of  History  to  Christ,"  by 
Farrar ;  -  Anti-Theistic  Theories,"  by  Flint;    -  The  Human 
Species,"  by  De  Quatrefages. 


14  DAY  USE 

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Geaeral  Library 

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